Super Smash Anime: A Future Imperfect
by Red Reef
Summary: In this world, Anime is life. Past, present, and future - they are all connected to one another. But there is someone...or something...that wishes to sever that connection. Anime of generations both young and old must stand together...or the world will pay a terrible price... (Temporary Haitus)
1. The World Martial Arts Tournament

Cold, dark space closed in around them, choking them, swallowing them in nothingness…. The realm in which they had dared to trespass was little more than a pure void of emptiness where nothing seemed to exist, whether alive or dead. They had foolishly thought they could wander into the Void without consequence, and now they paid the price….

Scattered across what little ground existed in this empty world, the heroes that had entered the Void searching for answers were tossed every which way, weakened and defeated.

Spike Spiegel, the party leader, was lying flat against a piece of upturned rock, bleeding profusely from his skull and his false eye ripped right out of its socket. The girls of Ho-Kago Tea Time lay battered and bruised in a pile, their instruments reduced to little more than kindling. Gintoki Sakata lay faced down in a pool of his own blood, the cause of which was caused by his own sword piercing through his back. Yugi Moto lay not too far away from him, buried in his own cards and several portions of his spiky hair ripped from his skull. Ichigo Hoshimiya was right next to him, half of her face swollen by a massive bluish-purple bruise and her beautiful dress in unrecognizable tatters. Even the mighty Mobile Suit Gundam was thrown into disarray; its mighty structure now just a bunch of mangled machine parts that encircled the other fallen.

So many iconic anime characters had been defeated, almost with little effort, including himself….

Monkey D. Luffy grunted with effort as he stretched his arm ahead, groaning painfully as he dragged himself across the jagged ground. His body, which was supposed to be made of impervious rubber, was now broken and battered just like the rest of his friends. His lungs hurt, his vision was failing him, and every muscle in his body was screaming for him to stop…. But he couldn't stop…he had to get away…he had to warn the others about what was coming…. So important was it that he needed to escape that he even left behind his signature straw hat….

"Gotta…keep going…," Luffy wheezed. "Gotta…tell the others…. Everyone…everyone is in danger…."

He stretched his arm out again when a foot suddenly came down on top of it, grinding their heel into the back of Luffy's hand. The straw hat pirate let out a bloodcurdling scream; his rubber powers failing him, making him feel every ounce of pain the attacker could provide him.

" _You're not going anywhere_ ," it said. " _No one will be warning anyone. You're going to disappear, any no one will ever know…._ "

"You're not…going to win…," Luffy said through gritted teeth. "The others will come…Goku…Ichigo…Naruto…. They'll find you…."

" _I hope they do…_ ," it said. " _And by the time anyone figures out what's happening, it will already be too late…._ " It stretched its hand to Luffy's face, a white aura surrounding it. " _Now…disappear with the rest of the fossils…._ "

The last things Luffy saw was the white glow of his attackers spread to every corner of his vision….

And then only nothingness….

* * *

 **SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode One: The World Martial Arts Tournament**

* * *

The air was electric with excitement and tension. The crowds swarming from all over for a chance to see it happen live. It was that time of year again: The World Martial Arts Tournament

In the bustling heart of Papaya Island, the crowds flocked towards the massive stadium grounds, filling up the thousands of benches all facing square stone area in the middle of the field that would, in a few minutes, serve as the final battleground for the tournament. The crowd was growing restless; chatter became louder and more impatient as the minutes rolled by. If the tournament didn't start soon, the people would start rioting just like they did last year. Tch, they truly are pigs in human clothing, she thought.

Seated in a special reserved box away from the rest of the restless crowd, two women sat in a pair of comfortable highbacked chairs waiting patiently for the match to start. The woman on the right, a stunning slim and pale-skinned woman, her long blonde hair tied into two long pigtails bunched up in odango buns with red disk barrettes and white hair pins. She dressed in a stylized sailor uniform with a dark blue miniskirt, red boots and ribbons, long white gloves, and a golden tiara.

Her companion, a stony-faced woman that gave an expression that demanded absolute authority, was a vision of true Japanese beauty. Silky, long black hair that reached to her butt and excessively thick eyebrows that looked like they were stuck in a permanent scowl, her body was something for the blonde woman to be jealous of, especially those breasts that were at least three sizes bigger than her own. Her own sailor uniform was more regal and militaristic, but was also more…menacing: shades of white and blue with golden epaulets and adornments on the sides, the uniform itself would have been beautiful if not for the patterns on her chest that looked like a pair of demon eyes.

 **SAILOR MOON (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) – SATSUKI KIRYUIN (Kill La Kill)**

"I was surprised to hear that you were coming, Satsuki-chan," said Sailor Moon. "I didn't think you like these kinds of things."

"I have nothing against it," said Satsuki stiffly. "But this tournament is rather bland compared to the ones we host at Honnoji – nothing interesting truly happens here. But I didn't come for the tournament. I came here to see you."

"Me? What for?" asked Sailor Moon curiously.

"You are among one of the lost and most influential anime in our world," said Satsuki seriously. "Surely you must be aware of what's been happening as of late."

"Who're you calling old?" Sailor Moon huffed. "I'm a high school teenager – "

"You're twenty-seven years old for god's sake!" Satsuki snapped. "The only people older than you are the characters from Dragon Ball."

"Okay, okay, I get you're point," said Sailor Moon, leaning back in her seat, pouting. "And about your question? Yeah, I have heard what's been going on. Or, to be more accurate, what I haven't heard…. A lot of popular anime characters have been going missing latterly, and no one seems to know where they went. Cowboy Bebop, K-On, Gintama, Yu-Gi-Oh, Aikatsu, even every iteration of the entire Gundam franchise seems to have fallen off the face of Animatia, the anime world."

"You forgot about One Piece," said Satsuki.

"Who?" asked Sailor Moon, tilting her head in confusion.

"You know, the one show with the rubber pirate?" said Satsuki; Sailor Moon shrugged her shoulder. "That one anime that has, like, a hundred flashbacks between every fight and like to drag the story on forever. Imagine the Namek Arc, only a hundred times worse."

"Oh, that one!" Sailor Moon shouted in realization. "Well, it's not like anyone's actually gonna miss that."

Satsuki conceded that she may have a point.

Before they could get any deeper into the conversation, the crowd suddenly exploded in a wave of cheers and applause. Sailor Moon and Satsuki looked forward and spotted the tournament announcer stepping on to the stage. He made a dramatic show of twirling his mic…which he immediately dropped and had to stoop over to pick up. Sailor Moon giggled; Satsuki shook her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen…it's the moment you've all been waiting for!" shouted the announcer. "The final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament! Now I know you're all eager to get things underway, so why don't we just skip the dramatic speeches and get right to the introductions?" The crowd wholesomely approved, many jumping out of their seats and stomping their feet. The announcer then gestured to his left. "In this corner, we have a returning fan favorite! He's the reason the World Martial Arts Tournament even exists because of his astounding popularity! Everyone put your hands together for…Goku!"

A thunderous boom from the sky drew everyone's attention to the clouds. A streak of blue light shot back and forth across the sky before it did a backspin dive straight down onto the tournament stage, landing with a mighty _**crash!**_ When the smoke cleared, there was standing a tall man with an incredible amount of muscle mass that didn't make him look too bulky and his black hair was a naturally spiky mess that stuck out in every direction. His bright-orange gi stood out in the arena; it looked slightly tattered and had undergone a lot of needlework; this was understandable considering how long he's been fighting.

 **GOKU (Dragon Ball Z)**

"And in this corner!" the announcer continued, gesturing to his right. "We have another fan favorite joining us for the final round. He has more fanfics than any other anime and eighty percent of them are yaoi, so that probably says a lot about him! His favorite technique is clone spamming, so you already know what to expect! Please give a round of applause for our challenger…Naruto!"

The very moment the introduction had ended, a cloud of black smoke suddenly exploded in the middle of the arena, choking both the announcer and Goku. When the smoke had thankfully cleared a few seconds later, a young teenage boy with spiky blonde hair was standing across from Goku. He was half Goku's age, only came up to the man's shoulders, and didn't nearly have the muscles to match, but there was a foxy grin that matched the whisker marks on his cheeks. He wore what looked like an orange and black track suit, but put a lot more emphasis on showing off the stylized metal headband.

 **NARUTO UZUMAKI (Naruto)**

"I had a feeling we'd both end up here," said Goku, sounding very excited.

"Well, we are part of the more popular anime, so it makes sense," said Naruto, raising his fists. "But I'm not gonna lose to you, old timer. I'm younger and have a lot more character development."

"Oh yeah, well we'll just see about that," said Goku, crouching low into a fighter's stance.

"Is everybody ready?" shouted the announcer. The crowd roared with enthusiasm. "Then let's get this match underway in three…two…one… **GO!** "

The words had barely left the announcer's lips before Goku suddenly kicked off the ground, causing the stone beneath his feet to explode as he shot across the arena like a bullet leaving the chamber. He crossed the ring in the blink of an eye (the announcer barely had time to scramble out of his path), pulling back his fist as he approached his opponent. However, Naruto quickly crossed his fingers together and the entire right side of the arena was suddenly consumed in a cloud of gray smoke. Goku accidentally flew into the cloud, stopped himself before he could go in any deeper. He quickly adjusted his stance into a defensive pose and looked around with a suspicious gaze. Normally he would have been able to sense his opponent's energy inside the smoke, but the strangest part about it was that he could sense Naruto's energy coming off in every direction. He was surrounded, but by what?

Goku immediately sensed something coming from his right and blocked and oncoming kick with his forearm. Before he had a chance to counterattack, Naruto backflipped back into the smokescreen and vanished. He sensed another attack almost immediately after and reached his hand over his shoulder, catching the shinobi's fist before it could connect with the back of his head. Goku closed his fingers around Naruto's hand in a vice grip to keep him from escaping and dragged him around so that they were face to face.

Goku had considered knocking him out with a quick punch to the gut – the little ninja didn't look that physically stronger – but then he sensed another energy signature coming in from either side of him. As if his body was moving on autopilot, Goku threw out the elbow of his free hand and lifted his right leg, both of them blocking simultaneous attacks from both sides. Goku looked back and forth between the attackers, his jaw dropping when he counted one…two…three Narutos! The clueless martial artists looked dumbfounded as he looked between them.

"Whoa, wait, what?" Goku sputtered. "There are three of you? You're triplets! Isn't that against the rules?"

"There's a lot more than just the three of us," said the Naruto clone, grinning smugly.

At that precise moment, a powerful gust of wind suddenly blew over the world martial arts stadium and pushed the smokescreen away, leaving the arena floor visible to everyone. Now that his vision was unobstructed, Goku realized that his opponent was right: there are more than three of them. A grand total of at least thirty clones were covering nearly every inch of the stage. The tournament announcer was crouched over near the edge of the arena, not wanting to be lost in the sea of clones.

"My signature technique: Shadow Clone Jutsu!" all the Narutos declared at once.

"Hey, that's not fair! It's like…a hundred to one!" Goku complained to the announcer. "Is he allowed to do that?"

"Well, technically, it's not against the rules," said the tournament announcer. "Probably because we never really thought to add it…. But this isn't any different than when you fought Tien Shinhan, right?"

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Goku admitted after a moment of thought. He started smirking. "All right, if that's the way you wanna play, then I'm not holding back!"

With a furious battle cry, Goku released the Naruto clone in front of him and grabbed the two that were lingering by his side, smashing all three of them together into a Naruto sandwich. The clones were apparently not that strong because they exploded out of existence almost immediately. Feeling a newfound sense of confidence, Goku once more moved into a low fighting stance, giving the clone army a look that said "Bring it on!"

As one the Naruto army charged forward with echoing battle screeches – all of them except one, Goku noticed; one of them seemed to be meditating for some reason. But Goku had very little time to think about that when the clones were right on top of him.

One of the clones leaped at him in an uncoordinated pounce, but Goku effortlessly sidestepped the duplicate, grabbed him back the back of his jacket, and threw him at another clone followed up by a swift roundhouse to another's chin, causing it to explode. Four Narutos hopped over the ones piled on the ground and circled around him, throwing theirs fists and feet wildly. With skill that could only come from decades of training, Goku effortlessly blocked every attack coming at him from all side, almost as if he could predict when and where they were coming. With each hit he deflected, the Naruto clones were growing more visibly frustrated until, finally, one of them screwed up.

While trying to Attack Goku from the side, one of the duplicates tripped over his own foot and stumbled wildly into another of his counterparts and dragged him to the floor. Goku seized this opportunity to grab the other two clones by the wrist, easily lifting them over his head, and slamming them both down on top of the two piled on the floor. They exploded out of existence upon contact.

The Saiyan warrior didn't have time to catch his breath before the rest of the clones started to charge at him all at once rather than attacking in waves. One Naruto doppelganger pounced on him from above, but Goku took him out with a quick windmill kick before spin around to deliver a solid punch to another clone's face, forcing them both to vanish. He then jabbed a sharp elbow into the side of another clone coming from his right, then grabbed that clone by the face and threw him it a pair charging front the front; and three of them exploded immediately. After delivering a sharp backfist to the Naruto that thought he could sneak up on Goku, the Saiyan warrior shot a wave of energy at a pair of clones that were hiding in the back of the pack, no doubt trying to do something underhanded.

For the next five minutes, the match had become little more than Goku pounding away at the clone army, forcing them to vanish after one or two hits. By the end of it, Goku was standing in the middle of the nearly empty arena and the only Naruto left was the one meditating near the edge of the ring. Despite the one-sidedness of the match, Goku still had to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Phew, I'm actually getting a little tired," said Goku, taking a deep breath. "He may not be as strong as me, but he definitely has a lot of energy. And that stamina is unreal. It must have taken a lot to make that many clones and still have plenty of energy left over. But that just means I can't take any more chances." He quickly adjusted his stance. "I need to take him out quick before he pulls out any more of his tricks."

The ground once again crumbled underneath Goku's feet as he launched himself across the arena. Naruto, on the other hand, did not move.

"Goku's got this in the bag!" Sailor Moon cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "Go veterans!"

"I would advise not jumping to conclusions so quickly," said Satsuki evenly.

Goku was already standing over Naruto with his fist pulled back for the finishing blow; Naruto had not moved the entire time. Not even considering that Naruto might have something up his sleeve, Goku rocketed his fist at the boy's face…and Naruto casually tilted his head out of the way without even looking. Goku was dumbfounded. There was a split-second of pause between the two as Naruto slowly opened his eyes to stare into Goku's; he noticed right away that there was something off. His eyes were bright-yellow with distinctive oval pupils and a strange orange pigmentation around them.

Smooth as one could be, Naruto pushed aside Goku's arm with his left hand and used his right for an openhanded palm strike to the Saiyan's stomach. To an outsider's perspective, it didn't look like such a weak strike would hurt someone like Goku, but the Veteran warrior was knocked off his feet and sent flying to the other side of the arena. Goku bounced across the stage once…twice…but successfully flipped himself over and grounded his feet a small distance away from the arena edge. The Saiyan warrior tried to move into his battle stance, but felt a sharp pain in his gut and nearly took a knee, wincing and holding the spot where Naruto hit him.

"Oh man…that really smarts…," Goku grunted. "What was that…? I didn't sense anything different about him…."

"Goku, look out!" Sailor Moon cried.

Goku's head shot up at his fellow veteran's warning. Naruto had crossed the arena in no time at all and threw a punch for Goku. The Saiyan immediately crossed his arms and blocked. There's hardly any power behind it, Goku thought, so why did it hurt so bad the last time? And then, as if on cue, Goku was suddenly knocked back when he felt an unseen force slam into his face; it felt like he was being hit by a speeding bullet train. Goku managed to keep his footing, but he did stumble backwards by a few paces. He felt something warm running over his lips and wiped it with his fingers. It was blood; his nose was broken. But the question was how? Naruto's attack didn't even connect….

Naruto took advantage of Goku's confusion to throw another punch at the older man's head. Goku slapped the fist over his shoulder so easily that he barely had to brush it with his fingers. This left Naruto wide open for a counter attack. But before the anime veteran could consider making a move, the same invisible force that struck him before returned and smashed against his cheek with so much power that it sent him spiral sideways, skipping him across the ring like a stone one water. Goku threw out his hand, digging his fingers into the stone to slow himself, and stopped properly in a kneeling position. He touched his cheek where he was hit; it was bruised and throbbing.

"What kind of trick is he using?" Goku asked himself. "I can't sense any energy coming off him, so I can't figure out where his attack is coming from. There's gotta be a reason for this…."

"Getting tired, old timer!" Naruto shouted boastfully, charging straight at Goku. "Maybe you should call it quits before you break a hip!"

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen!" Goku shot back.

Ut despite his bravado, it was only just that. Goku successfully blocked the next punch that was aimed for his chest, but that invisible force he was fight still manage to drive a powerful blow that knocked all the air out of his lungs. It left him winded and his guard dropped; Naruto took advantage of them opening and attacked him with a ball of swirling blue energy that had suddenly appeared in his hand. Even the people sitting in the stands could feel the backdraft of the attack as Goku was shot backwards from the explosion of energy. The veteran warrior rolled on his side and stopped just a few feet short of the edge, looking battered. When he tried to push himself up on all fours, he flinched and held his side, taking a deep breath through his clenched teeth.

High above the arena, Sailor Moon gasped, jumping out of her seat and leaning over the edge of the private box. Satsuki remained seated, perfectly calm, with a subtle smirk gracing her lips.

"What's happening down there?" Sailor Moon moaned. "How's he getting beat up like that? Naruto hasn't landed a single hit."

"Actually, he has," said Satsuki coolly. "You older generation types might not understand it, but we younger generation have to work a hundred times harder to stand out in the modern world when being compared to you. Naruto, for example, had to learn a very difficult art called Sage Mode. It is a very strenuous fighting style that works by manipulating the natural energy that flows around us, rather than using the energy inside his own body. That's why Goku cannot see or detect Naruto's attacks, but the energy he's using isn't his own. Glad he's smart enough to use this form instead of selling out and using that Jinchuuriki Mode, which is basically just a spamming version of Super Saiyan."

"So it's a fighting style that the characters from Dragon Ball have no chance of sensing," Sailor Moon hummed thoughtfully. "Hey, wait, what do you mean 'we older generation wouldn't understand it'? Goku and I both had to work hard for our newest shows!"

"Did you?" asked Satsuki. "Or was it that much easier to gain approval because you already had fans from previous generations?"

"That's…not entirely inaccurate," Sailor Moon mumbled. "But we still had to work hard to make them good!"

Satsuki clicked his tongue in disbelief and resumed her focus on the battle as Goku started to retreat from Naruto. Sailor Moon frowned and took her seat again, shooting worried glances at Satsuki. This wasn't the first time Satsuki showed contempt for veterans like Sailor Moon and Goku; she and other newer generation animes often complained that they had to work harder to make a name for themselves than the older shows who already had a strong foothold in the world. She could appreciate the younger generation's efforts…but it wasn't fair to say they didn't work hard either. Plus, the younger generation had one thing to their advantage…something that made Sailor Moon worry every night…wondering if tomorrow would finally be the day when….

But, as usual, Sailor Moon kept her opinion to herself. There was no point in beating that dead horse. She just wanted to watch the match in peace….

* * *

But while the battle raged on at Papaya island, another moment of significance was taking place in the faraway city of Tomoeda.

From the comfort of their own home, two young girls were watching the World Martial Arts Tournament on the gigantic plasma screen TV. The first was an elegant-looking rich with wavy violet hair, though there was nothing about the way she was repeatedly pumping her fist into the air, shouting at the television screen. But her companion didn't seem to mind; she was laughing and shouting along with her. She was equally young as her companion, not even reaching the double digits yet, with short, wavy auburn hair that was held down by a red headband; around her neck was a tiny necklace with a golden star in the middle of a pink circle with a little key dangling from the bottom.

When Naruto landed another invisible hit on Goku on screen, the violet-haired girl groaned and the brunette cheered.

"Come on, Goku, you're way better than him!" shouted the rich girl. "Use your Kamehameha Wave!"

"Nuh-uh, not happening, Tomoyo-chan!" cheered the brunette girl. "Naruto's gonna win!"

 **SAKURA KINOMOTO (Cardcaptor Sakura)**

"I don't get you Sakura-chan," said Tomoyo, pouting and crossing her arms. "Goku's a veteran like you. Should you be cheering for him instead of the rookie?"

"As an anime character, I think Goku's pretty awesome," said Sakura, frowning. "But as a character, he's a horrible person. All he ever cares about is fight. He's inconsiderate of other people and doesn't even think about the kind of trouble he causes for other people. And he's a terrible father. He would rather spend his time training and fighting strong opponents instead of being there for his wife or raising his children. Vegeta is actually a better person than Goku, and he tried to kill everyone!"

"Really, I never knew that," said Tomoyo thoughtfully. "I always thought he was a champion of justice."

"That's only because the English dub changed his personality," said Sakura. "He's really a terrible person in the original. At least Naruto actually cares about people."

"But does that really have anything to do with the fight?" asked Tomoyo.

"No, that's just my personal feelings," Sakura admitted. She looked back at the screen and gasped. "Look! Naruto's about to do his ultimate attack!"

* * *

Goku was down on one knee, holding his bruised side with shallow breaths. Just as Satsuki had predicted, Goku couldn't sense the natural energy coming from Naruto's Sage Mode; he had been getting beat on mercilessly for the last four minutes. But then, all of a sudden, his opponent had just broken off his attack and jumped back as far as he could to the opposite side of the arena. At first, Goku thought Naruto was being polite and just giving Goku a chance to catch his breath. But then he started to sense a huge swell of energy coming from the younger fighter and looked up.

Naruto was holding his hand high above his head, a ball of blue swirling energy forming in his palm once more. But the energy didn't stop growing; if anything, it seemed to expand like a balloon until it was as big as Naruto's head. Then it started to emit a horrible screeching noise that caused Goku to cover his sensitive ears. Four large curved pointed began to grow from the center soon giving it the shape of a shuriken. A huge backdraft of wind carried throughout the stadium at the moment of the technique's completion, causing many to cover their arms with their faces; Satsuki, naturally, sat perfectly still as if she wasn't affected.

"Oh man, such a huge power!" grunted Goku. "It's like a more powerful version of Krillin's destructo disc!"

"I gotcha now, old timer!" shouted Naruto confidently. " **Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!** "

Naruto tossed the energy shuriken at Goku with all his might, crossing the arena in the blink of an eye. Goku was still kneeling on the ground, breathing through his clenched teeth….

"Goku, get out of the way!" screamed Sailor Moon.

But he couldn't get out of the way. Not because he couldn't…but because he was way too excited to take this thing head on.

Goku flashed his signature cocky grin at Naruto, confusing the boy immensely, and then forced himself to stand on his feet as the Rasenshuriken made its way down the final stretch. The veteran warrior stared down swirling mass of destructive energy with a focused gaze…and then he started to scream. It was a scream that everyone knew very well – the kind that all the Z Fighters did whenever they were powering up. Normally, Goku would go for the dramatic ten-minute shouting match like he usually did on the show, but he was short on time, what with the Rasenshuriken about to slice him in half, so he decided to jump straight to the point.

There was a flash of golden light and Goku's deep—black hair suddenly spiked upward and turned bright-blonde. He had transformed into a Super Saiyan Mode, his most famous transformation before he started doing that ridiculous blue thing recently.

Super Saiyan Goku stretched his hand over his shoulder, pausing for a long minute as the Rasenshurkien came up to him, and took a quick swipe at the jutsu. There was a brief moment where time seemed to stop when Goku's hand connected with the razor edge of the Rasenshuriken; Naruto was almost sure that he fingers were going to be cut off. But Goku once again defied common sense as he flicked the spinning death ball into the sky, where it exploded over the arena.

Naruto craned his head back to stare at the space where his most powerful technique had been thrown away like a piece of crumpled up paper, unaware that his Sage Mode had worn off. With Naruto distracted, Goku cupped his hands together at his side and started to draw on a huge amount of blue energy, shaping it into a sphere between his palms.

" **Ka…me…,** " Goku chanted out loud, " **ha…me…HA!** "

He thrusted his hands forward and energy sphere exploded into a rippling blue stream of destructive power. Naruto didn't realize what Goku had done until the attacks brilliant blue light blinded him. He couldn't see what was going on, so he just raised his arms to protect himself, but it stood very little chance. The Kamehameha Wave struck him in full force. It lifted him off the ground and carried him not only out of the arena, but straight into the stand behind him. The audience quickly dashed out of the way – their reaction time told that they were far used to this happening. Naruto hit benches, which caused the stands to explode upon impact, covering the entire section in a cloud of thick smoke.

The stadium had gone silent; everyone stared at the cloud with rapt attention. Sailor Moon was leaning over the railing, mouth agape in awe, while Satsuki closed her eyes with a slight frown. Goku also stared at the space for a long minute before he let out a sigh of relief and powered down to his natural hair color.

The dust finally settled and everyone could see Naruto lying beaten inside a small crater. He was covered in scratches and his clothes were a little frayed, but he seemed otherwise unharmed; that was to be expected from shonen characters. The blonde shinobi groaned as he slowly lifted himself into a sitting position, rubbing the tender spot on his head while looking around. It didn't take long for realization to set it before Naruto figured out what had happened: he had been knocked out of the ring, he had lost. And it seemed that the announcer, who had also been stunned into silence, finally came to that same realization as he stumbled into the center of the arena and began to yell:

"Ladies and gentleman, what a spectacular ending!" he roared. "Both fighters gave it there all, but there can be only one winner! And I am proud to announce that the winner of the World Martial Arts Tournament is our returning champion…GOKU!"

The crowd turned away from Naruto and returned their attention to Goku, exploded into a fresh wave of cheers. Colorful confetti fell from the sky (even though there was nowhere to drop it from) and victorious music started to play over the screaming fans. Sailor Moon whooped and pumped her fists into the air; Satsuki, though still frowning, politely clapped.

Naruto winced slightly while trying to push himself up when a hand suddenly appeared in his vision. The blonde ninja looked up, a surprised expression on his face, and Goku smiling above him. And it wasn't a superior sort of smile that he often saw with Sasuke; it was a genuine, appreciative smile.

"You were pretty good out there," said Goku. "You had me on the ropes with that Sage Mode thing. I had no idea where your attacks were coming from. If I hadn't gone Super Saiyan, I might be the one laying there." Without even asking, Goku took Naruto's hand and lifted him up to his feet. "I hope you get really strong, because I'm definitely gonna want to fight you again someday."

"Heh, you're a pretty weird guy," said Naruto jokingly. Goku tilted his head; Naruto snickered. "But I'm not one to talk…. All right then, it's a deal. I'm gonna get super strong and then we're gonna have a rematch. No holding back next time!"

"It's a deal!" said Goku eagerly.

And so our story ends, the unity of generations young and old brought together by –

Okay, you know I'm pulling your leg, right?

Both Goku and Naruto were still locked in deep conversation with one another that they failed to notice the two shadowy figures lurking in the crowd, moving around unnoticed as they seemingly blended in with the chaotic environment. The two stalkers reached the edge of the crowd surrounding the two fighters from opposite ends, crouched low to remain hidden. They leered at the pair in silence as the subtly waved their fingers in tiny circles, drawing forth a steady stream of sticky red liquid that slowly took on the shape of a snake. The mysterious duo watched and waited. Naruto said something to Goku; the Saiyan warrior laughed out loud.

And then they struck.

The stalkers lashed their red snakes at the pair together. One snake clamped its very solid fangs down on Naruto's shoulder and the other on Goku's bicep. Both men cried out as the red snakes pressed down deep into their skin. Naruto dropped to one knee, already weak from his fight against Goku, but suddenly feeling even weaker. He tried to reach over his shoulder and remove the snake, but both arms suddenly felt like they weighed a tone each and fell limp at his side. Goku, at the very least, tried to put up a resistance. He grabbed the red snake by the neck and tried to rip it off with all his might, but the snake's jaw was braced on him like a steel trap. After a few moments of fruitless struggle, Goku suddenly started feeling weak as well and dropped to his knees, his vision starting to blur.

The natural reaction to the crowd was for them to run away as fast as possible, clearing the entire stadium in a matter of minutes, leaving behind Goku and Naruto with their attackers. Through their haze that was clouding their heads, both fighters looked up at the assailants, their breaths short and heavy.

There was no way to describe the stalkers in detail, mostly because there wasn't much to tell. Both were wearing skin-tight white body suits underneath tattered black cloaks with hoods that covered their heads, making them indistinguishable from one another. The only thing that stood out about them were the solid white masks that covered their faces with two curved lines overlapping the dark eyeholes. Both of them were holding out their right arms, which was where the red snakes appeared to be originating from.

While everyone else had fled the stadium, Sailor Moon and Satsuki were still in the private box, viewing the entire scene from above.

"We've gotta help them!" Sailor Moon cried.

"Then what are you doing standing around for?" Satsuki snapped, leaping out of her chair.

Sailor Moon would have felt insulted by Satsuki's rudeness, but as the younger swordswoman leapt courageously over the box railing, she figured it wasn't the time to get into it and jumped after her.

Both woman landed directly between the injured fighters and their assailants. Satsuki drew her sword to cleave both of the red snakes in half with pone masterful stroke, forcing the serpents to withdraw their fangs and splatter across the benches into puddles of sticky red liquid. The at tackers hissed and stumbled backward, likely not having expected any resistance from others. Before either of them could retaliate, Sailor Moon landed in a crouched position between the two groups holding up her heart-shaped wand at the attackers.

" **Moon Spiral Heart Attack!** " she shouted.

A massive glowing red energy shaped like a heart erupted from the wand's head and was launched at the attackers, both of whom were so dumbfounded by the utterly ludicrousness of the attack that they didn't even dodge. The glowing heart hit them straight on and exploded with a tremendous force that the ground quaked briefly; Satsuki, Naruto, and Goku raised their arms against the backdraft. Neither of the assailants, it seemed, were destroyed by the blast, but they were both sent flying across the field and landed with a pair of heavy thuds on the tournament stage.

Satsuki lowered her arm, humming thoughtfully.

"Despite looking utterly ridiculous," said Satsuki, "you are actually quite powerful."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Sailor Moon. When Naruto and Goku groaned weakly, she refocused her attention on them. "Oh my goodness, are you two all right?"

"Yeah, we're not hurt," said Goku, grimacing. "But I suddenly feel really tired. Like I just went through a hundred sparing matches with Vegeta."

"Same here," said Naruto, winded. "I barely have any chakra left inside me, and I can't sense Kurama either. It's like I literally had the life sucked out of me."

"Hold on," said Sailor Moon, raising her wand over her head. "It'll heal you with my Moon Healing Escalation."

"I don't think they're going to give us a chance to help," said Satsuki, who was looking the other way.

Everyone followed her line of sight down to the arena. Both of the attackers were rising to their feet, but neither of them was using their hands or legs to do so. They looked more like they were floating back up, as if they were vampires. One of them twisted their head, snapping the bones in their neck with a sickening _**crack**_ before righting itself. Both remained rooted to their spots, but the heroes could tell they were just waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

"We're not going to be able to help them as long as those two are still standing," said Satsuki. "We'll have to destroy them before we can do anything else."

"But – " Sailor Moon stammered.

"No, Usagi, she's right," said Goku, referring to Sailor Moon by her real name with a sense of familiarity. "You can tell they're not the type to stop until someone stops them. Go, we'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" asked Sailor Moon.

"We're pretty fast healers," said Naruto with what he hoped was a confident chuckle. "We'll catch up to you girls in a minute. Make sure to give them a good kick for us."

Though the pretty guardian of the moon looked hesitant to leave them behind, she understood their reasoning and nodded. Sailor Moon joined Satsuki at her side and together they both took a great leap over the benches, flying across the short stretch of lawn, and landed safely inside the ring. Both women stared down their adversaries; Satsuki's hand hovered over the hilt of her sword waiting to draw and Sailor Moon raised her wand in a combative pose.

"If you need to take a break, be sure to let me know, granny," said Satsuki with a taunting smirk.

"Just try not to trip over your own ego, you whippersnapper," Sailor Moon retorted teasingly.

Satsuki actually chuckled at the joke…. And then, with a furious battle cry, they charged headlong into battle together.

* * *

 **As requested by popular demand (and by that, I mean it got the most votes) a Super Smash Bros parody featuring anime characters, in honor of the new Smash Bros announcement made recently.**

 **As you might have already expected, this is a parody of the Subspace Emissary storyline featuring anime characters in place of game characters. But, as I usually do in parodies, I'm never satisfied without throwing in my own little twists into the story. Whereas in the original game that involved basic world domination, the theme of this story is centered on history and an internal conflict within the heroes ranks between the older and younger generational animes, both of whom have their own reasons for disliking the other.**

 **The younger generation's beef is already laid out: the older generation came first, so they are constantly being compared to them (as they are in the real world) and have to go the extra mile to stand out and be recognized. The Older generation, on the other hand, has a much more serious reason for resenting the younger generation slightly and has a direct connection to the main villain's motives. Be sure to stay tuned for that.**

 **And as always, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again. The newest chapter should show up by the end of the week at least.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	2. Mirai

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Two: Mirai**

* * *

 _ **CLANG!**_

 _ **TWACK!**_

 _ **BOOM!**_

The stage of the World Martial Arts Tournament was alive with destructive sounds. The stadium was almost completely empty save for the brave few who chose to stay and fight. Goku and Naruto were forced to sit on the sidelines gathering their strength while Satsuki and Sailor Moon fought for their lives.

The strange creatures that had attacked the stadium – these hooded figures with their strange masks – were remarkably resilient. Satsuki dashed up the center of the arena at blinding speed, running past one of the assailants while swinging her sword so fast it looked like little more than a blur. Her blade cut deeply into then attacker's side, creating gaping gash in its flesh and splattering its blood across the stage floor. Satsuki turned around, sword raised in a ready stance, as she waited for the assailant to make its next move. An attack as severe as the one she delivered should have been crippling, but not only was the invader still standing, but he spun around on it heel and threw itself backwards into a spiraling swing towards Satsuki.

The hooded creature threw its arm out to swipe at Satsuki's face, but she surprised the attacker by lunging forward to meet him halfway. In another sudden burst of speed, Satsuki appeared directly behind the masked attacker as she slowly (and dramatically) returned her sword to its scabbard. She fully sheathed her Secret Sword Bakuzan with an audible _**click**_! Blood sprayed profusely from the masked assailant like a leak in an aerosol can. A line of red formed directly down the middle of the attacker starting from its head to its pelvis...then it split in half with a sickening _**squelch**_. Satsuki let out a heavy sigh as she stood up straight, casually brushing the dust off her uniform, and looked back at the two halves of the attacker.

"Hmm…they're not as strong as I would have imagined," said Satsuki thoughtfully. "Did they merely catch Goku and Naruto off-guard?"

"Ew, that's so gross!" Sailor Moon shouted, gagging. "C'mon, this is supposed to be a kid's show!"

"Your anime is directed towards children," Satsuki retorted calmly. "I come from an anime where everyone is naked ninety percent of the time."

"People actually watch that!" shrieked Sailor Moon, going red in the face. "What kind of anime are people making these days? What happened to good, wholesome family shows?"

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to your enemy?" said Satsuki, challenging. "Or have you lost your memory in your old age?"

Sailor Moon puffed out her cheeks childishly and turned her back to the swordswoman. What Satsuki didn't realize was that Sailor Moon was already dealing with her attacker much more effectively that the younger anime star.

In the first few minutes of the fight, she had opened up the floor with her signature Sailor Moon Kick, landing a solid blow to the attacker's head. The hooded assailant, however, rebounded off the ground and crouched low to the ground on all fours, hissing like an angry cat. It raised its left arm to call forth another red goopy snake from beneath its sleeve and silently commanded it to lunge at Sailor Moon. The combination of the attack's speed and the overall creepiness of it caused Sailor Moon to panic slightly and let out an involuntary shriek when the red snake was on top of her. And whether intentional or by accident, the jewel on her hair buns glowed and let out a blast of supersonic sound that amplified Sailor Moon's cries. The red serpent became unstable by the sound waves and splattered all over the arena floor. The assailant clapped its hands over its hood, trying to cover its ears, and dropped into a fetal position.

It was after that the stopped to talk to Satsuki, but now that she turned back to face her adversary, she saw that it was slowly getting back to its feet. The masked assailant seemed very disoriented; its movements were shaky and its stumbled at least twice before standing proper. It was still holdings its head, its head waving back and forth subtly as if it were trying to get its bearings. It was left wide open for Sailor Moon's next attack.

"For love and justice, the Pretty Guardian in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon!" shouted Sailor Moon with a dramatic, sentai-like pose. "In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" She touched the gem on her tiara, which started to glow with white energy. " **MOON TWILIGHT FLASH!** "

A narrow beam of pure white light shot from the gem upon Sailor Moon's tiara and cut cleanly through the attacker's chest. Now you would think this wouldn't cause much damage, especially to a creature that obviously has high tolerance for pain. But for some unexplained reason, the masked assailant just suddenly…evaporated. Like, he completely dissolved away without any logical explanation, and left only a smoking scorch mark on the ground. Her enemy defeated, Sailor Moon posed once more.

"Justice has been delivered!" said Sailor Moon dramatically.

"Is the posing really necessary?" asked Satsuki blankly. "And where did you even get the moonlight energy for that attack? It's the middle of the day."

"Anime logic!" said Sailor Moon proudly with fists on her hips.

"…okay, that makes sense," said Satsuki quietly.

Just then, Goku and Naruto ran up on stage to meet the girls, both of them still looking a little winded, but regained a little bit of their color.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Goku, worried.

"Yeah, it wasn't any trouble at all!" said Sailor Moon proudly with a victory sign. "I'm honestly surprised you guys didn't put up much of a fight. They were incredibly weak."

"They caught us off guard, okay," said Naruto defensively. "And they had those weird snake things biting us at the time. I don't know how, but those things somehow managed to drain all of our energy in an instant. We're lucky to be alive, if I'm being honest."

"I don't think they were expecting any resistance," said Satsuki. She walked over to the corpse she had personally cut in half and kneed next to it. "They were trying to be discreet when they attacked, blended into the crowd so that the two of you wouldn't see them. And then, when your guards had been lowered, they attacked you with their strange power and were either attempting to poison you or suck out your life force – either one is a possibility. They clearly didn't know that Moon and I were in the audience, otherwise they wouldn't have acted so boldly."

"Where do you think they're from?" asked Goku.

"Well…all the red stuff kinda looked like blood, doesn't it," said Naruto, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "There are only a few animes that have characters that can make stuff out of their own blood. And based on their outfits, I'm guess they're part of a larger group of people with the same power. There's only one anime I know that has a whole lot of people that use blood powers."

" _Deadman Wonderland_ ," Satsuki concluded. "An anime that revolves around blood slaughter and psychological torture. It's the only possible conclusion."

"Seriously, what is wrong with this generation!" Sailor Moon squeaked, looking a little pale. "I remember back in our day when anime was family friendly!"

"Yeah, thank god that's over," said Satsuki.

"HEY!" Sailor Moon snapped.

"But there's something weird about these guys," said Naruto. He kneeled down with Satsuki and turned the corpse's head his direction; Sailor Moon made a gagging sound and Goku rubbed her back gently. "I've never seen these guys in the anime before, and believe me, they wouldn't be easy to miss in a one cour anime. I don't remember any characters that wore masks other than the main antagonist and definitely not two people with the same ability."

"They must be from the manga," said Satsuki. "The story is further ahead than the anime. They must be characters that weren't introduced in the anime."

"Uh…guys…," Goku said slowly, pointing above their heads. "The sky's turning black…."

Sailor Moon, Naruto, and Satsuki blinked strangely at the oldest of their group, then craned their heads back to follow his line of sight. It was just as he said: one minute it was crystal clear skies, and then then the next, thick, ominous black cloud of rolling thunder swept over the skyline; lightning forked from the darkness, striking in every direction, striking the bleachers once in a while. The anime heroes guarded themselves as a powerful wind blew through the stadium. And then, from deep inside the clouds, something enormous began to emerge.

It was a massive airship with a wingspan that matched the length of the World Martial Arts stadium, made entirely of pitch-black metal with silver details. The engines roared with unnatural blue fire and the massive cannon on the top deck looked strangely familiar to Satsuki and Naruto, though they couldn't place where. And stamped on both of the wings was a black star symbol coated in blue flames that matches the engines heat.

"Does anyone recognize that ship?" asked Sailor Moon.

"You got me!" shouted Goku.

"I got nothing!" said Naruto.

"I don't know why, but it reminds me of somewhere," answered Satsuki. "I just can't place the name."

Once the massive airship was directly over the tournament stage, the hatch underneath opened. Something large fell out and was falling directly at them in a blur of silver and red. Goku quickly grabbed Sailor Moon and hopped away while Naruto jumped in the opposite direction and Satsuki made a mad dash to the side, all of them only barely able to get away within second before the object smashing into the arena with a thunderous _**crash!**_ With extreme caution, the heroes approached the object in question. It was a metallic orb bigger than even Goku, who was the tallest one among them, bearing a menacing red "X" that was glowing with energy.

"Is that…," Sailor Moon spoke softly, leaning sideways for a better look, "a bomb?"

"A retcon bomb to be more exact," a new, distorted voice sounded from above.

The four anime icons dashed away sharply on the bomb and immediately went on the defensive; Goku raised his fist in a fighting stance, Sailor Moon held up her wand, Naruto withdrew a kunai from his pouch, and Satsuki's hand was on the hilt of Bakuzan. All of them raised their eyes to the sky above the bomb and took in the sight of the abnormal creature that floated above it.

Whatever it was had the shape of an adult human male, but that was about the extent of the details they could make out of it. The floating humanoid was made entirely of a blinding white energy that made it very difficult to look at, which was molded into the basic outline of a human, but lacked any features other than the two black holes in its head that must have represented its eyes. The strange creature floated down until it was standing directly on top of the bomb, slouching slightly as if unaccustomed to its own weight.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto sneered.

"I am Mirai," said the humanoid creatures, its sound warped with multiple overlapping voices. "I am the future."

"Yeah, we know what your name means," said Sailor Moon, scowling. What are you doing here? Are you the one who sent those people to attack us? What are you going to do with that bomb?"

"You talk a lot…for a relic," Mirai scoffed; Sailor Moon gasped at the insult. It craned its head toward the split body of the assailant. "Though, I will admit, sending a couple of Forgeries from Deadman Wonderland might not have been the best idea. They are relatively useless if their opponents are not Deadman – the were designed specifically to counteract a Deadman's Branch of Sin and nothing else. But they are easy to mass produce, so I use them anyway."

"Why did you attack us?" said Goku. "Tell us right now!"

"I have nothing to say to you, fossil," said Mirai scathingly. "And once my retcon bomb goes off, it won't even matter."

"You keep calling it your retcon bomb," said Satsuki. "What is it? What does it do?"

"I thought the name would be a giveaway," Mirai chuckled mirthlessly. "As you may have figured, this is no ordinary bomb. It doesn't blow up things. It also wipes their very existence from reality."

"What does that mean?" asked Naruto.

"It means…," said Mirai, pausing for dramatic effect, "that anything caught in the blast radius won't just be destroyed, it will be wiped completely from all memory, both in this world and the real world."

"What?" Sailor Moon gasped.

"You can't do that!" yelled Naruto.

"Oh, but I can," said Mirai. "When this is over, no one will even remember that the World Martial Arts Tournament even existed…and the same goes for you four relics as well."

"We're not going to let you get away with this!" roared Goku furiously.

"If you think you can stop me," said Mirai, taunting them, "then you are welcome to try."

Mirai floated off the bomb back into the air towards the airship. Not long after he did, two more Forgeries suddenly appeared from behind the retcon bomb and inserted their hands into the openings on either side. They heard a sharp hiss before the Forgeries pulled back, opening the metal casing down the middle. Inside the bomb was a transparent tube holding what looked to be a dark energy core, which was pulsing like a heartbeat as the countdown timer beneath it flickered to life, indicating it would go off in three minutes.

Goku was the first one to notice the timer. Despite several warnings from the others, Goku threw himself forward flying at the bomb, ready to smash it to pieces with his fists. But he only made it halfway across the stadium before a rumbling thud made Goku stop midair and the other heroes to stumble on their feet. The four anime icons looked behind there where mysterious cloud of dusty sudden kick up, obscuring that section of the stadium. Goku narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the dust cloud…and then a beam of energy shot out from it, hitting Goku squarely in the chest. The Saiyan warrior cried out in immense pain, the upper half of his gi completely obliterated, and was last seen flying over the horizon into a twinkling light.

"Goku!" Naruto cried.

"NARUTO!" Sailor Moon suddenly screamed.

The young shinobi, temporarily putting Goku out of his mind, spun around on his heels and nearly stumbled over himself when he looked up.

Both Sailor Moon and Satsuki were trapped in what looked like forcefield balls made of tainted purple energy; both of them were trying to fight their way out, but the barriers were resistant to their attacks. The massive creature holding their energy prisons resembled a massive humanoid girl three times Naruto's size made from black and purple substances, its hands coated in thick metallic claws and its head concealed in an alien-like hood with a pair of glass baubles that looked like eyes. The giant girl-beast let out a low chuckle; its voice was warped just like Mirai's.

"Please, keep struggling, little humans," said the enlarged female monster. "It only adds to the entertainment."

"What – is – _that!_ " Naruto yelled.

"A little something I picked up over in _Kaiju Girls Season 2_ ," Mirai called from above, pausing to savor the show. "The ultimate dark Kaiju – Shadow General!"

The giant shadow Kaiju roared following its introduction, creating a powerful shockwave that made Naruto slide back by several feet.

"Shadow General, get rid of the orange eyesore," Mirai commanded. "But be sure to save the women. They were unexpected, but I could still have some use for them. Bring them back to base when you are done."

"With pleasure, Master Mirai," said Shadow General with a wicked laugh.

With his commands given, Mirai floats up and disappears inside the airship, which was beginning to exit the borders of the tournament stadium.

"Get back here!" Naruto yelled as he started to give chase, but stopped in his tracks when the Shadow General suddenly zipped in his path.

"You will not be going anywhere, little ninja," said Shadow General with an amused tone. She held up the energy prisons in her hands, reminding Naruto that Sailor Moon and Satsuki were still in her grasp. "You wouldn't want to leave your friends behind, would you?"

"Naruto, help!" Sailor Moon cried.

"You must break us free from these prisons quickly!" yelled Satsuki.

"Well, little ninja, what will you do now?" said Shadow General with a hint of challenge.

"That's kinda obvious," said Naruto as he crossed his fingers. "I'm gonna kick your ass and save my friends. **Shadow Clone Jutsu!** "

Several clouds of smoke exploded out of nothingness, filling up nearly half of the staging area, and when the smoke cleared, Shadow General found herself faced with a small battalion of blonde ninjas with terrible fashion sense. The army of Narutos echoed with overlapping battle cries as they charged headlong at the shadow Kaiju, but the Shadow General merely laughed.

"Using a half-witted spam attack against a kaiju?" Shadow General cackled. "You really don't know what you're getting yourself into, do you?"

The Shadow General raised its head slightly so that it's bulbous yellow eyes could be partially seen underneath its hood. The dark Kaiju's eyes glowed with an ominous energy, and before the Naruto clones could move out of the way in time, she unleashed a powerful ray of twin eyebeams on the crowd. The Shadow General's lasers cut a clean path down the center of the legion, effortlessly taking out twenty percent of their ranks. With a malicious grin, she started to swerve her head and the twin lasers began to sweep back and forth throughout the arena. The Naruto clones scattered like cockroaches, many of them climbing over one another to escape the laser's path, though it proved fruitless for many of them. In under a minute, the entire stage was covered in a thick cloud of smoke created from when all of the clones were destroyed.

The Shadow General powered down its eyebeams and grinned proudly at her accomplishment…or at least until something shot out of the haze into the air above her head. The dark Kaiju made a curious noise while tilting its head back to look up. Naruto had emerged from the smoke relatively unharmed other than a few singe marks on clothes. Upon closer inspection, the Shadow General could barely make out the orange pigmentation around his eyes; Naruto had gone into Sage Mode.

Naruto raised his hand over his head and instantly started to gather a massive amount of blue energy, shaping into a ball that quickly filled his palm. But rather than stopping, the energy orb continued to expand more and more until it was equal to him in size.

"Why don't you try this on for size?" roared Naruto. " **Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan!** "

"Gladly!" cackled the Shadow General.

As Naruto came flying at her with his Sage enhanced rasengan, the Shadow General launched forward to meet in the middle and threw out her right hand, which was holding the prison containing Sailor Moon. The pretty guardian squealed, terrified, as the Shadow General used her cage in a similar manner as Naruto's rasengan and the two forces collided in the air. A great deal of pressure rippled throughout the stadium when the two forces collided, causing much of the already destroyed stadium to break down even further until the bleachers were nothing more than a pile of rubble. Naruto struggled to hold his rasengan's shape; the Shadow General's energy prisons seemed almost indestructible and his attack was likely to give in way before hers. Of course, he knew he wouldn't get the chance to test that theory when the Shadow General started to chuckle in a low voice.

A centipede-like creature suddenly appeared from the Shadow General's waist, curving around the air and latching its mandibles around Naruto from behind. The blonde ninja was forced to dispel his rasengan, which Sailor Moon was more than gracious for; all that shaking made her dizzy. Naruto tried to pull himself out of the centipede's grip, but the creature had a secure hold on him.

"Hey… not…fair…," Naruto grunted.

"At what point did you think I care?" said Shadow General

By her command, the shadow centipede tightened its grip on Naruto, causing the young warrior to cry out in pain. Naruto could feel the centipede's pincers starting to dig into his skin; the only reason they haven't cut him in half already was because his Sage Mode was enhancing his durability. But at this rate, it would only be a matter of moments before he was snapped in two…. It was a good thing he had the foresight to plan ahead.

The Shadow General relished the torture she was subjecting, that she almost didn't realize that the smoke clouds were still covering the stadium arena, or that there were still others lying in wait. Sure enough, the smoke rose from either side of the Shadow General and it didn't take long before she realized that there were two more Naruto clones had appeared. Both clones, the Shadow General could tell, were in Sage Mode like the main body and both of them were holding a pair of Big Ball Rasenagans over their heads.

"We got you got!" the Naruto clones echoed. " **Sage Art: Big Ball Rasen –** "

"Now you're just wasting my time with pitiful tricks," the Shadow General interrupted, frowning in annoyance.

In a surprise move on the Shadow General's part, the dark Kaiju commanded the centipede monster to drop the original Naruto, throwing him back into the dust cloud that covered the arena, and withdrew it back to her waist. She let out a monstrous roar that would make Godzilla proud as she craned her head forward, bringing everyone's attention to the glass eyes on her hood, which started to glow with the same tainted purple energy as Sailor Moon and Satsuki's cages. Purple lightning shot wildly from the eyes, simultaneously destroying the clone's Big Ball Rasengans and landing direct hits on the clones' chests. Both doppelgangers fell into the haze of smoke that _**still**_ covered the arena, even though logic dictates that it should have cleared up by now.

"All of your little stunts have failed!" the Shadow General declared. "And the retcon bomb will go off soon. This fight is already lost…."

"At least I still have time for one last trick!" Naruto's voice shouted across the arena.

The Shadow General turned in the direction that the voice had come from as a sharp whistling noise filled its ears ( **Sailor Moon: Wait, does she even have ears?** ) For what seemed like forever, the smokescreen around the stage was finally, _finally,_ cleared away as a torrential flow of wind started to kick up in the middle. The original Naruto, looking slightly battered and breathing hard, had his hand held over his head as he proudly carried his famous rasenshuriken. The Shadow General stared for a long minute. She could feel that the attack would definitely kill her if it landed, but she showed no fear of it.

"If you think I'm just going to stand and let you hit me with that," said the Shadow General, "then you are even stupider than the fan comments say you are."

"I'm not stupid! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Naruto snapped. "I've outsmarted some of the biggest bad guys from Zabuza to the Third Raikage! Why do people keep thinking I'm dumb?"

"I don't really care about your personal problems," said the Shadow General. The glass eyes on her hood glowed with energy, ready to fire. "But you are really dumb to leave yourself wide open…."

The dark Kaiju leaned forward as its electrical charge reached its peak and the alien eyes started to spark with energy. But just when it was seconds away from discharging its power, the two Naruto clones that she had thoughts she had destroyed minutes ago suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threw themselves at her from both sides. The duo doppelgangers were each holding a spiraling ball of energy in their hands and smashed them into the Shadow General's eyes, shouting out their attack: " **Rasengan!** "

The Shadow General howled horrifically as the clones slammed their rasengans into each of her eyes, smashing the glass into thousands of tiny shards. The dark Kaiju snarled furiously and swung the energy cages of her prisoners into the shadow clones, slamming into them with the force of a speeding train. Both clones exploded into nothingness immediately.

The Shadow General shuddered and shook its head, trying to shake off the pain. For a moment, its felt like she had forgotten something very important…but the shape whistling noise quickly reminded her as she immediately turned back around to face Naruto. The young shinobi had already thrown his Rasenshuriken while she had been distracted and it was already halfway across the arena by the time she figured out what was going on. The Shadow General seemed to freeze in a panic for a moment as the young boy's around curved around in the air and started to make a beeline for her chest…. But then at the very last second, the Shadow General gathered her wits about her and jumped straight into the air, hopping over the rasenshuriken. The Shadow General cackled victoriously.

"Ha, ha!" shouted the Shadow General proudly. "Looks like your ace in the hole has – "

Whatever it was she was about to say, no one would ever know because a blade of energy suddenly sliced the dark Kaiju cleanly down the middle. Without the Shadow General every realizing it, Naruto had remotely commanded to turn its body so that its bladed edged were facing vertically and expanded the range to three times its normal size. This allowed the Rasenshuriken to reached the dark Kaiju and sever its body into two equal parts, much like Satsuki had done to the forgeries earlier.

The Shadow General's body slowly, more like dramatically, hovered in the air for a long minute before the two halves started to slide against one another – then her body as a whole evaporated into black smoke. The dark Kaiju's energy prisoners were subsequently thrown in different directions – the closest one landed a few feet away from Naruto's side – and dissolved away shortly afterwards. It turned out that Sailor Moon had been in the prison that landed near Naruto; he immediately dashed over to her aid.

"You all right?" asked Naruto, offering her a hand.

"A little dizzy…and a little nauseous…," Sailor Moon said with a grimace. "But I'll be fine."

She took Naruto's hand graciously as he sharply pulled her up to her feet. But before they could even _think_ about celebrating their victory, the sound of an engine motor suddenly screeched through the air. Naruto and Sailor Moon searched around curiously when Sailor Moon suddenly shouted and pointed into the air. Someone had just shot over the rubble that used to be the stadium, apparently riding atop a motorized vehicle to get here – it looked like a vespa. They landed roughly in the craggy arena, bouncing lightly on their scooter, and came to a screeching halt a few feet away.

The person sitting atop the vespa was a young woman with faded-pink hair cut into a flare and gem-like yellow eyes. She dressed herself in a bright-red coat with baggy white sleeves, a pair of sleek-looking black pants, bulky orange gloves, and a pair of white gogo boots that matches her flimsy scarf. The other noticeable aspect about her was that she was carrying a guitar on her back, but the many dents and scratches on it told a story that she did more than just play it.

The strange woman grin maniacally and said, "Hey, what's up, bitches! How's it hangin'"

 **HARUKO HARUHARA (FLCL)**

"Haruko, what are you doing here?" asked Sailor Moon.

"You know her?" Naruto said to Sailor Moon.

"She was recently instated for veteran status," Sailor Moon answered. "We had a party for her a few months ago."

"Yeah, and that was really awesome of you to do that," said Haruko, grinning widely. "That's why I kinda feel bad for what I gotta do."

"Whaddya mean?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah…ya see…my new boss kinda wants me capture you guys and make sure this place gets blown to smithereens," said Haruko, picking her ear in a nonchalant fashion. "I think ya might know him. It's that uh…Mirai guy or whatever."

"Mirai?" Sailor Moon gasped. "You're working for him? Why?"

"The same reason I do anything," said Haruko wickedly. "Because I want power, and lots of it. The big boss promised to give it to me, so I'm going along with his crazy shit. And since you basically killed off his pet," she gestured to the spot here Shadow General had faded, "I guess it's up to me to pick up the slack."

"We're not going to let you take us so easy!" Naruto roared as he and Sailor Moon moved into defensive positions.

"Yeah, you guys look like you might put up a fight," said Haruko, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I really don't want to get my clothes dirty, so…."

Haruko hummed to herself and looked around over her shoulder when she saw something that brought a smile to her face. In all of the excitement, Naruto and Sailor Moon had forgotten about Satsuki. The swordswoman had just been freed of her prison, but was very disoriented from the whole experience; she was dizzy and holding her head to fight back the throbbing pain in her skull. Haruka chuckled darkly.

"Yeah, she'll do."

Haruka reached inside her pocket and pulled out a metal ball with neon-pink lines tracing the outside. Naruto and Sailor Moon failed to stop her in time before Haruka did an exaggerated version of a pitcher's stance and threw the metal sphere with enough speed to break the sound barrier. Satsuki had very little chance of defend herself when the metal ball slammed into her shoulder and exploded in a blinding flash of pink light; Naruto and Sailor Moon raised their arms to shield their eyes.

When the light dimmed seconds later, Naruto and Sailor Moon lowered their arms and gasped appallingly. Satsuki body was covered entirely in bright-pink crystal shall that froze her in the position she had been in before the ball had hit her. The heroes were too stunned by the development that they didn't offer up any resistance when Haruka kicked her vespa to life and took a u-turn towards Satsuki's crystallized statue, snatching the figure up as she passed by.

"Whelp, it's been fun, but really need ta get goin'!" Haruka called over her shoulder as she soared over the stadium debris. "Catch ya later, if you're lucky!"

"Hey, wait, come back here!" cried Sailor Moon. "Naruto, we got to save Satsuki."

Naruto finally came out of his stupor when Sailor Moon sprinted past chasing as Haruka's vespa, which sounded like was getting further and further away by the second. Naruto didn't know what chance they had at chasing down a motorized vehicle, but the idea was quickly showed to the back of his mind when they ran past the retcon bomb, which they had completely forgotten about. Sailor Moon didn't seem to have noticed the countdown timer, but Naruto did: they had six seconds left before it exploded.

Naruto grinded his teeth. He wanted to save Satsuki, but he needed to think of them first. The blonde shinobi pushed forward with an extra burst of speed, wrapping his arm securely around Sailor Moon's waist while biting down on his thumb to draw blood as the timer reached it's final moments –

 **3…**

 **2…**

 **1…**

 **BOOOOM!**

The dark energy core inside broken free of its container, expanding farther and farther away from its casing. The black void crawled across the stage, then the ruined bleachers, and then, in a matter of minutes, it consumed all of papaya island. For one long, heart stopping moment, the entire island was replaced by a massive sphere of dark matter where no light could penetrate. And then, just as fast as it came…it vanished. There was no withdrawing process, no evaporation, no fading energies…. It the span it takes for a person to blink, everything just…vanished. Papaya island couldn't not be found anywhere; there was only an endless stretch of ocean from this spot to the mainland.

A tense moment of silence washed over (quite literally). And then, the calm ocean surface bubbled before something emerged from beneath the waves. A fifty-foot warty red toad breached the surface with a relieved gasp of air, and sitting on it wide head, coughing up salt water, was Naruto and Sailor Moon.

"Tha - *cough* thanks…Gamakichi," Naruto said gratefully to the toad. "You really saved our necks."

"Hey, it was no problem," said Gamachiki, his voice booming in their ears. "Say what was that thing, anyway? Gave off some kind of weird energy. Nothing like I ever felt before."

"No idea," Naruto admitted, falling back on the toad's head. "We managed to make it out safely, but that Haruko person ran off with Satsuki. We need to get her back before something bad happens to her."

"Anymore than they already have," said Sailor Moon, flopping down next to him. "We should go back to the mainland and see if we can find help. Satsuki's sister, Ryuko Matoi, is supposed to be exploring the Makinata Forest near the village of the Tiny People. She'll want to help out."

"Hey, Gamakichi, think you can take us back to the mainland?" Naruto pleaded.

"Sure thing," said Gamakichi. He started paddling ahead, his wide eyes focused on the distant landmass that was thankfully not too far away. After a few minutes of swimming, Gamakaichi said, "Hey, just a quick question while I got you guys."

"Sure, what is it?" said Sailor Moon tiredly.

"What're you guys doing this far out in the middle of the ocean anyway?" asked Gamakichi. "There's nothing out here by an endless stretch of water. There aren't any islands or underwater caves nearby, so I thought it was kind strange that you'd both end up here."

The heroic duo blinked owlishly at the great toad's question. They scrunched their brows in thought and looked to each other for answers –

"I…I really don't know…," said Naruto hesitantly.

\- for the memory of Papaya Island, and the World Martial Arts Tournament, no longer existed.

* * *

 **[Naruto Uzumaki and Sailor Moon have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	3. On the Snake Way

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Three: On the Snake Way**

* * *

Sakura hadn't moved for a while now. She was staring, open mouthed at the television. It was only moments ago that she had been cheering for Naruto to beat Goku in the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament. She had been disappointed that Naruto had lost…and terrified when the Forgeries had attacked them. Despite the tournament being over, the cameramen had dutifully caught everything: The Forgeries, the black airship, Mirai, the Shadow General, and then the final explosion of the bomb before the television screen turned to static.

The cardcaptor was stunned by the events that took place and wondered if the others were all right. But what shocked Sakura even more was how _**normal**_ Tomoyo was acting. The moment that the bomb had gone off and the screen turned to static, Tomoyo, casual as ever, grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels. Her rich cousin seemed to be more concerned with finding something good to watch rather than the thousands of people that might be dead on Papaya Island.

"Hmm…nothing really good on today," said Tomoyo, frowning. "This seasons animes aren't really up to par, are they?"

"Tomoyo-chan, how can you be so calm about this?" asked Sakura.

"Calm about what?" said Tomoyo, still staring straight ahead at the TV.

"The World Martial Arts Tournament was destroyed, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura gasped. "How do you not care? A lot of good friends were there! Goku! Usagi! Naruto! Satsuki! They could all be hurt, or worse!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Sakura!" yelped Tomoyo, holding her hands up defensively. "Let's just calm down for a moment…just take a deep breath – that's it," she said encouragingly as Sakura breath in slowly. "Aaaand exhale – okay, feeling better yet?"

"A little," said Sakura softly.

"Okay…so, I have just two questions," said Tomoyo cautiously. "Number one: what's the World Martial Arts Tournament? And Number two: why are you glowing like that?"

Sakura blinked, tilting her head in confusion, and then looked down at her hands. Her body was covered in a strange blue-white-green aura, almost like a protective barrier. Before Sakura could even question where the aura had come from, her answer appeared in the form of a floating card that gently glided down from the ceiling into her hands. The card was bright pink and had the picture of an object that looked like a metal wing with a red jewel embedded in the crest, restrained by multiple chains.

"The Shield Card," said Sakura, looking just as surprised as Tomoyo. "But how did – "

" **Sakura Kinomoto, you are needed!** " an ethereal voice suddenly echoed in the room, making Sakura and Tomoyo jump to their feet.

The elementary school girls looked around the room wildly until they are drawn by a powerfully bright light sudden appearing at the threshold to the next room. Standing there was a tall, dark-haired Chinese man in glasses wearing an old-fashioned robe with a star motif. Sakura automatically recognized the man with a surprised and elated gasp. She rushed up to him immediately and fell to her knees, bowing respectfully to the man; Tomoyo, having no idea what was happening, followed her example.

"Clow Reed, it's you," said Sakura. "What are you doing here?"

"A new threat has emerged, Sakura," said Clow Reed grimly. "One, I fear, even I had not foreseen, even with my gift of foresight."

"I saw it too," said Sakura. "His name is Mirai. He attacked the World Martial Arts Tournament."

"I'm afraid it's much worse than that, Sakura," said Clow Reed. "I'm afraid this…Mirai is setting his sights on all of Animatia. Though his goal, it seems, is not wanton destruction, but rather complete erasure."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"That bomb that Mirai set off," Clow Reed explained, "It doesn't just destroy everything it touches them. It erases them completely, and not just in a physical sense. It completely erases everything it destroys from the minds of all living things, essentially removing it from history. It is a truly malevolent concept. To be able to create a weapon that can wipe something away from all thought is undoubtedly terrifying."

"That explains why Tomoyo-chan doesn't remember!" Sakura gasped in sudden realization. "That bomb wiped it from her memory!"

"But wait," said Tomoyo uncertainly, "then how come Sakura-chan still remembers while I don't."

"The Sakura Cards reacted instinctively to the danger and protected her," Clow Reed explained. "These 'retcon bombs' as he is calling them, seem to have a weakness towards magic. That is why when The Shield Card activated, it insulated Sakura from effect of the bombs temporal blast."

"If the retcon bombs are weak against magic," said Sakura thoughtfully, "then that means Sailor Moon is okay, right? I mean, she is the original magical girl."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way," said Clow Reed, shaking his head remorsefully. "One must actively use magic to protect themselves from the bombs terrible effects, and I'm afraid Usagi doesn't use magic in the same sense that you do. As far as I can tell, the only objects that reacted to the bomb in time were the Sakura Cards, the Intelligence Devices, and the Claiomh Solais."

"Then…everyone forgot," said Sakura sadly. "The World Martial Arts Tournament…. It's such an important piece of anime history. Who could do something so terrible?"

"That is what you must find out," said Clow Reed urgently.

The ancient wizard waved his hand through the air and, quite suddenly, a wall of fifty-two pink cards suddenly surrounded Sakura. The young girl suddenly gained a serious look in her eyes as she stood up and held her hand out palm up. The cards immediately fluttered in a rapid spiral around Sakura and one-by-one stacked themselves into her hand into the full deck was formed. She held the cards close to her heart and stared up at Clow Reed like a soldier awaiting orders.

"You will need allies if you are to succeed in this quest," said Clow Reed. "You will find the Saiyan warrior Goku on Snake Way. He has sustained heavy injury in the fight against the Shadow General and I can sense Mirai's Forgeries heading in his direction. You must find him before they do."

"Right!" said Sakura affirmatively. She spun around to Tomoyo, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Tomoyo-chan, I know I promised we would hang out – "

"No, it's fine," said Tomoyo understandingly. "The world needs you. Go. Protect everyone. I'll be right here cheering you on…. Just…make sure you don't get caught by those bombs…. If I forgot about you, then – "

"Not gonna happen!" said Sakura confidently. "I'll be back in time for dinner! Count on it!"

After a small exchange of self-assured smiles, Sakura pivoted on her heel and dash out the backdoor into Tomoyo's wide backyard. She stopped in the middle of the grass, ripping off her star, holding it over her head, and chanting:

"Oh, Key that hides the power of the stars, reveal your true nature before me. I, Sakura, commanding you on our contract. **Release!** "

The necklace exploded in a flash of pink light that, when it faded away second later, had transformed into a long, red staff nearly equal to Sakura in height topped with a golden, five-point star inside a circle with wide feathery wide on either side. She gave her newly formed staff a quick twirl to get used to the feel – it had been a long time since she actually used the classic Star Wand – while slipping the Sakura Cards into her pocket. All except for one.

Without even needing to look at the card, Sakura instinctively knew what she had drawn and raised it prominently over her head. The chosen cardcaptor cried " **FLY!** " with all her conviction, feeling the magical energy surge through her tiny body, gathering in her spine before it burst outwards. Like a flower in bloom, a pair of angel wings of pink feathers sprouted from Sakura's back (and yet somehow managed to leave her clothes undamaged). Tomoyo released a dreamy sigh; Angel Sakura was one of her favorite Sakuras.

Sakura looked back at Tomoyo and Clow Reed one last time, giving them a quick salute and a confident smile, then took off into the air with a single flap of her wings like a speeding bullet. The cardcaptor let out a jubilant scream from the freedom that the Fly Card had given her; it had been a _really_ long time since she let loose - maybe she should challenge Nanoha to a race sometime. But putting those thoughts aside for later, Sakura flapped her wings once more and disappeared through the clouds above the city….

…Leaving Tomoyo and Clow Reed standing awkwardly at the backdoor of Tomoyo's house, neither one of them knowing what to say to the other.

"Um…do you…want some tapenade?" asked Tomoyo hesitantly.

"Oh…oh, yes, that would be lovely," said Clow Reed tensely.

* * *

Somewhere on a highway running along Animatia's shores, Haruko brought her vespa to a screeching halt in the middle of the road, leaving some very impressive tire tracks on the pavement. She whipped the goggles off her face and slouched forward on the handles, dropping the crystal statue she was carrying on the ground unceremoniously. Damn, for such a skinny chick, Kiryuin was seriously heavy when in a crystal shell, Haruko thought. But it was all good. The retcon did its job blowing…whatever it blew up – Haruko honestly couldn't remember – and she managed to score a sweet prize. Guess it was time to call the boss.

Haruko pulled out her phone and pressed the number to her boss's direct line and waited at the ringing. It suddenly occurred to her how weird it was that a seemingly ethereal specter from the future would even have a phone, but as long as he kept his end of the bargain, she didn't give a shit. Finally the phone clicked on the other side.

" _This better be good news, Haruhara,_ " Mirai's voice seethed from the other end.

"Moshi, moshi!" Haruko yelled cheerfully, grinning. "Hey, boss man, got the job done. That Shadow General idiot went and got herself killed, but I picked up the slack. The bomb went off without a hitch and I even collected a bonus prize…. You're okay that I got the monster boob girl with the sword and not the pretty sailor, right?"

"… _What was that_?" Mirai said lowly after a short pause. " _Haruko…do you know who Sailor Moon is_ …?"

"Yeah, pretty much everyone knows," said Haruko flippantly. "She like, one of the first magical girls, though she's kinda bland compared to – "

" _ **YOU IDIOT**_ **!** " Mirai roared. " _ **YOU REMEMBER SAILOR MOON**_ **?!** "

"Eep!" Haruko squeaked, nearly dropping her phone in surprise. "Y-Yeah, kinda…. Is that a problem."

" _The very fact that you are aware of Sailor Moon's existence is a huge problem!_ " Mirai snarled. " _It's means she wasn't erased by the retcon bomb! She survived! And more than likely, that yellow-haired idiot she was with most likely survived as well!_ "

"Oh," said Haruko blankly.

" _Do you understand how this complicates things?_ " Mirai hissed. " _If they survive the explosion, then that means they are aware of our plans. It's only a matter of time before they attempt to reach out to the other heroes! How could you have let them get away like that?_ "

"Well, in all fairness, you're the one who blurted out your plan – " Haruko began.

" _ **SILENCE!**_ " roared Mirai furiously.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Haruko snapped. "Look, I'll just ride back over and take them out. Easy-peasy."

" _No, we have another situation that needs your attention,_ " said Mirai. " _As it turns out, the retcon bombs show a vulnerability to magic. Several magical girls protected by sentient magical items have not been affected by the erasure process. Already, they're starting to gather forces and openly opposing my Forgeries._ "

"So you want me to take them out, is that it?" asked Haruko.

" _I'm sending you to deal with the situation at Luna Nova_ ," said Mirai. " _The girl with the magic staff – she needs to be eliminated at once. But before you do, I need you to take Satsuki Kiryuin to a nearby Forgery platoon south of your location._ "

"What for?" Haruko asked curiously.

" _I may know of a way to get Miss Kiryuin to help us with our little pest problem…_ ," Mirai said cryptically.

* * *

High above the skies of Animatia, there was a long patch of bright-yellow clouds that stretched from one end of the anime continent to the other. For one reason or another, the long strength of clouds had hung over the continent without ever moving since it's appearance in the eighties. Any who possessed the ability to fly (which was eighty percent of the population) would fly through the sea of clouds and discover a long, narrow, winding pathway made on the back of what looked like a long, scaly stone body. Those who had seen the beginning of the path recognized it to be the carving of a massive snake, which is how the road received its name: Snake Way.

Sakura breached through the clouds with a mighty flap of her wing, ripping a large hole in the fluffy mass before it molded itself back together again. She hovered over the pathway for a short minute as she looked up and down the road. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she flapped her wings again and shot down the path like a rocket.

"He's not here – must be further along the road," Sakura muttered to herself. "I hope he's all right. It looked like he took a nasty hit on TV…. But this is Goku we're talking about. He's survived worse…."

Though there was still some lingering doubt in her mind over Goku's present condition, she was soon distracted by other matters.

Spying something moving out of the corner of her eye, Sakura flipped around to her left and stopped in midair with a terrified gasp. A massive ship of pitch-black metal was slowly rising from beneath the clouds, the largest that Sakura had seen in Animatia. Her eyes fell upon the emblem of the black star coated in blue flames and immediately recalled the flying warship that Mirai commanded on TV. The Black Star (which Sakura decided to name herself), breach the sea of clouds like a surfacing whale and began to fly over the path of Snake Way, overshadowing it and Sakura together.

The underside of the Black Star opened and several bodies dropped like anvils, landing in scattered positions all along the stone path. The bodies slowly rose to their feet, cracking their stiff joints, and turned towards Sakura with blank stares. It was the Forgeries. Sakura easily remembered watching Satsuki and Sailor Moon dispatch them. Sakura glided down to the road a few feet away from the gathering Forgeries holding her staff forward like a sword.

"Hold it right there!" Sakura commanded with as much authority as her little body could muster. "I am the Cardcaptor, Sakura Kinomoto, and I order you to stand down and not cause trouble! So…just stop being bad…please?" The Forgeries stared at her, some of them even tilting their heads. "Okay, so I can't make overdramatic speeches like Usagi, but I still want you to stop being bad!"

The Forgeries took a long pause and looked at one another…then they leapt in full force at the Cardcaptor.

Sakura let out a squeaky "HOE!" as the masked menaces swarmed her in record time, but the veteran magical girl had been through similar situations in the past and knew how to keep a level head. She slipped her fingers into her pocket and withdrew one of the Sakura Cards. She didn't need to see what she had drawn to know what it was; her connection to the cards was instinctive and absolute. Sakura shouted the card's name (" **Dash!** ") and suddenly vanished without a trace just as the Forgeries slammed their fists down on the spot where she had once been. The Forgeries look around in a moment of confusion until one of them turned around, spotting the little girl with the pink wings several yards down Snake Way.

After slipping the Dash Card back into her pocket, Sakura quickly snatched up another one and tossed it into the air.

" **Release, the Arrow!** " Sakura cried. The card exploded in the air and a short pink-skinned girl carrying a short bow floated above Snake Way. "Arrow, pierce them with your divine judgment! Hey, I can make dramatic speeches." She added happily.

Heeding the words of her tiny master, the Arrow raised its short bow, pulled back the drawstring, and released. Rather than facing a single shot, the Forgeries were unexpectedly bombarded by a volley of what must have been a hundred glowing arrows that seemingly appeared from nothing. The Forgeries instinctively raised their arms to protect themselves and some of them even called upon the power of their Branches of Sin to conjure large snakes of blood to act as shields. Most of them were skewered with arrows in their arms, legs, and bodies, but they still remained standing, blood spilling like waterfalls from their wounds. At least two of them, however, have the misfortune of taking direct shots to the head – a arrow lodged itself in the eyehole of a Forgery's mask and the other pierced directly through its forehead. Both masked monsters, now dead, toppled sideways and fell through the clouds. Sakura closed her eyes and looked away; she might be a veteran to anime, but she was still a little girl after all.

But the moment she looked away, the Forgeries went on the offensive. They formed several snake heads from the blood that was dripping from their arrow wounds. Half of the foot soldiers rounded on to the Arrow, restricting the card's body with their thick, coiling bodies, before sinking their fangs into the girl's name. The Arrow faded from existence with a silent scream, snapping Sakura out of her stupor when she sensed the Sakura Card being forced back to where it came. Sakura reached out for the fading spirit when she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Sakura's body frozen, her eyes going wide and shaking with fear. She felt something warm dripping down her lips – blood.

The young magical girl looked down at her chest to find a thick body of solidified blood had pierced through her tiny chest and exited through her back; the head of the snake hanging over her own. She could feel her body starting to seize up – she needed to act quickly. Her hands shakily reached for the Sakura Cards, but the Forgeries cut her off. They commanded the giant snake to clamp down onto Sakura's shoulder, burying its foot-long fangs into her neck. Sakura opened her mouth, she tried to scream, but her voice had gotten lost somewhere in her throat. She bravely tried to push on and reach for the Sakura Cards…but then her hand fell limp at her side as the Star Wand clattered uselessly on Snake Way. Sakura stared at her attackers helplessly until her eyes glazed over and her head drooped.

The Forgeries approached the body, withdrawing the combined blood snakes back into the wound and dropping the girl face down on the road. They swarmed around her in a tight circle, some of them tilting their heads like curious children. After all, it wasn't very often that a major protagonist would be killed in her debut appearance…and, of course, that would never happen.

As one of the Forgeries prodded her with its finger, Sakura's body suddenly began to dissolve from the point of touch, twinkling lights flying into the air like fireflies. The next thing they knew, Sakura's body was gone and the "blood" that she had spilled seemingly vanished like it had been rubbed out. The Forgeries hissed in what can be assumed was their personal language, many of them looking agitated. One of them suddenly sensed something, or someone behind them and spun around quickly. Sakura was standing only a few feet away, in perfect health, wielding a pink threateningly. The Forgeries started to realize the change in the situation one after another and prepared to pounce, but Sakura quickly cut them off.

" **Firey!** " Sakura screamed.

The card capturing magical girl was thrown on her butt and nearly thrown over the edge of Snake way by the recoil of the card, which had produced a humongous fireball that dwarfed its master by three times. The fireball glided along the road like it was on a set of tracks, approaching the Forgeries at dangerous speeds. With Snake Way being so narrow and none of them having the power to fly, they are started to climb over one another in an effort to flee in the opposite direction. But their struggling only caused their escape to be delayed and were soon consumed in the fireball's heat before they could make it more than four steps. The fireball exploded like a bonfire. The Forgery's pained screams mixed with the cackling of the flames as the smell of burning flesh lingered in the air. Sakura choked on the stench, holding her stomach in hopes of quelling the uncomfortable feeling.

Sakura leaned on the Star Wand and she pulled herself back up to her feet. She took a hesitant glance at the Forgeries. Their bodies, charred pitch-black and dotted with lingering embers, were piled on top of one another like the remnants of a campfire. Sakura let out a tired sighed as she wiped her forehead with her sleeve.

"That was…way too close," said Sakura with a relieved expression. "Oh man, I knew those things were dangerous, but I didn't think they would go that far. They must be from one of those modern-day gore animes that mentally disturbed weirdos like to watch. Good thing I had the sense to use the Twin Card at the same time as the Dash Card," she added, pulled out the Dash Card she held earlier and edging it sideways to reveal the second card behind it. "I managed to create a duplicate and we both ran in opposite direction; I ran away to the back while the double charged to the front and distracted them so that I could build up the magical energy to use Firey at pull power. Although, watching myself die, I'm probably going to have nightmares from now on.

"Okay, Sakura, no time for monologuing out loud," Sakura said to herself, looking around. "You need to find Goku before any more bad guys show up…. And I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

You sure did, Sakura.

She heard a soft, rustling noise coming from the pile of bodies and looked over. She spotted them just as the topmost corpse was pushed to the side, rolling off the others and over the edge into the clouds below. A lanky arm clawed its way out of the top of the pile, shortly joined by its twin and together they pulled the rest of the body out of the mass. One of them had survived, Sakura thought, no doubt using the others as a shield.

Though the Forgery had avoided most of the blast, it's cloak had been burned away, revealing a number of things about the mass-produced henchman that she hadn't noticed when it was on. First off, the Forgery was unexpectedly short, probably only a few inches taller than Sakura and had a very small and thin build, almost like a child whose only just reaching their teenage years. The Forgery also had short, chestnut hair that made it look rather feminine. And labeled on the front of it's body suit printed in white lettering was what looked like a manufacturing number: **M-8912**

"Aw man, it's just my luck that one of them still manages to make it," Sakura whined, while she sneakily reached for her cards. "But at least I know your tricks now. You won't be getting me with those creepy blood attacks!"

If the sole Forgery had heard any of what she was saying, it didn't acknowledge it. The masked assailant only stared at the cardcaptor through its hollow-eyed mask, unflinching. Sakura felt a little creeped out, if she was being honest. Sakura managed to reach for one of the cards – the Freeze, she could sense – when something strange started happening to the Forgery. Small, but noticeable sparks of electricity was arcing between it's fingers like tiny snakes of light slithering in between the digits. An overwhelming sense of danger suddenly washed over her.

Sakura whipped out the card as fast as she could, but she couldn't call out its name in time before the Forgery suddenly pointed at her with it's index finger and shot a crack of lightning that hit her squarely in the chest. The magical girl was thrown and landed roughly on her back, her whole-body tinkling uncontrollably. The Sakura Cards in her pocket spilled out onto the road, though Sakura was relieved that none of them had fallen over the sides (It would take forever to get them back). Sakura shivered in the middle of the road, trying to get her nerves under control, but it was very difficult and very painful. She might be paralyzed….

"S-s-since when c-can you do-do tha-a-at?" Sakura stuttered, gritting her teeth.

The remaining Forgery slouched sideways and cupped its hands together, building up electricity between its hands. Sakura redoubled her efforts in forcing her body to listen to her brain and she did manage to lift her body up by a couple inches, but there wasn't enough time before the Forgery held up the bundle of electricity in its right hand and threw it like a fastball. The shock ball (as she would aptly name it later) hit her in the same spot on her chest, spreading a second dose of electricity throughout her nervous system. Sakura's pain filled screamed were enough to shatter glass; it felt like a thousand white-hot wires were poking at every inch of her skin. Thankfully, the pain was only temporary; it vanished almost as quickly as it started.

The Forgery cupped its hands to charge another shock ball. Sakura tried moving her hands again, but this time found that they weren't shaking uncontrollably. The second jolt must have restored her mobility. The Forgery was almost finished with its second shock ball, so she needed to act fast. She craned her head back as her eyes raced back and forth looking through each individual Sakura card for half-a-second each. Her eyes finally fell upon the card she had been desperately looking for just as the Forgery finished its charge. While the masked assailant threw the shock ball at lightning speed, Sakura hurriedly snatched up the card, pushed herself up in a sitting position, and held it in front.

" **Mirror!** " Sakura shouted.

A ornamental Chinese-styled mirror sparkled into existence between Sakura and the shock ball only a moment before the two could connect. The ball of lightning slammed into the glass mirror with so much force that Sakura still felt the backdraft from the blow, but the mirror did not budge. Instead, the mirror absorbed the shock ball inside of itself, covering the glass with condensed electrical energy. The Forgery tilted its head clueless, having no idea what was coming until the mirror spewed the shock ball out right back at it's creator. The shock ball was flying to fast for it to dodge, so the Forgery took the attack directly to the face. Sakura couldn't tell if the masked monster was actually affected by its own attack, but the impact seemed to be strong enough that it was knocked off its feet and tossed over the edge of Snake Way.

The world seemed to move in slow motion in that one moment as Sakura watched the Forgery begin to fall. The shock ball had broken off a piece of its clay mask, tearing away its eyehole. It was the first and only moment Sakura could see the eyes of the person underneath; they were a rich brown like their hair. It didn't matter, of course, because the Forgery fell over the edge out of sight, where it would plummet thousands of feet to its death.

Sakura fell back, laying spread eagle, and exhaling a tired sigh.

"Please don't do that thing where the villain secretly survives in the end," Sakura pleaded to no one.

Sakura chose to rest in the middle of Snake Way to allow her weak body a moment's rest; it had been a long time since she had fought a hard battle where her life was actually in danger. She didn't know how many precious minutes were passing by, but for the time being, she didn't care. Even veteran magical girls needed to recuperate. Sadly, her time was cut short when she heard a set of slow-moving footsteps heading her way. Sakura groaned inwardly, not wanting to move, but knew she had to make sure that the Forgery hadn't come back as it likely would.

Despite her body's protests, Sakura pushed herself up by her elbows and stared straight up at the man. And funnily enough, it turned out to be the very guy she had been looking for.

Goku smiled and laughed with his usual carefree grin as he gave Sakura a tiny salute. He was a little scratched up and his upper body was bare of any clothing (" _When isn't it?_ " Sakura thought to herself), but he was otherwise okay for a man who had been launched a great distance.

"Hey, Sakura, how've you been?" Goku greeted happily. "Wasn't expecting to see you here. What're you doing up in Snake Way?"

"Hey, Goku," Sakura greeted in return. Goku offered his hand and Sakura accepted, allowing herself to be pulled up. "I was actually looking for you. I saw what happened at the World Martial Arts Tournament on TV, and then Clow Reed appeared at Tomoyo's house telling me there was big trouble, so here I am?"

"Hmm, he did, did he?" said Goku, humming thoughtfully with crossed arms. "Well, it's kinda foggy, but I remember fighting some seriously bad people a little while ago. Satsuki said they were from something called Deadman Wonderland, and then this Mirai guy showed up and started talking about this bomb that, like, wipes out your memory or something. I don't know, it's all foggy to me. I mean, I remember fighting with Naruto, Satsuki, and Usagi, but I can't remember where. When I close my eyes, all I can see is this white emptiness."

As he was talking, Sakura was pacing around the road picking up her Sakura Cards one by one. A deep frown crossed her cute face the more he said.

"That means the bomb worked," said Sakura grimly, picking up the Sand card and adding it to her deck. "Clow Reed said that Mirai's retcon bombs have the power to erase everything caught in them from everyone's memories. That's why you can't remember the World Martial Arts Tournament, even though it was a huge part in your early history."

"What? Seriously? It can do that?" Goku yelled, leaning back in shock. "Wait? Does that mean Usagi and the others were caught in the blast, too?"

"Since you remember them, I guessing they managed to get out in time before the bomb went off," said Sakura, picking up the Erase card.

"Oh, that's good," said Goku, slumping in relief. "But wait? How come you remember the…whatever you said when I can't?"

"Clow Reed said that whatever energy the retcon bombs give off are vulnerable to magic," Sakura answered. "He said that because we have magic items that can think for themselves, some of us magical girls were able to avoid the bomb's memory erasing effect."

"It's a good thing you did, or else I'd never know," said Goku. He punched his fist into his palm, grunting angrily. "Damn it! That Mirai guy, taking away everyone's memories like that. What's the point? Why would he want to make everyone forget something that's important to a lot of people? If I ever get my hands on him…."

"Well, don't look now, but I think that's his ship over there," said Sakura, pointing out in the distance.

It was pretty far away and the swirling clouds were impairing their vision slightly, but Goku could barely make out the back end of the Black Star flying away. The Saiyan warrior furrowed his brow. Even if he couldn't remember the World Martial Arts Tournament, he could still remember that ship and Mirai fleeing aboard it. He started taking a few steps forward and was about to fly there himself when something shot past him and Sakura at incredible speeds, nearly knocking them off of Snake Way. Neither one of them could see what it was, but the outline of the object was definitely human-shape and it was leaving a pink trail in its wake.

"Wasn't that…?" Sakura gasped.

"C'mon, we have to catch up with them," Goku insisted, bracing himself to jump.

"Wait, you can't!" Sakura cried, grabbing Goku's arm before he could jump. "We can't go after Mirai yet!"

"What? How come?" Goku complained.

"Goku, you were just sent flying by one of Mirai's generals, and she was probably the weakest one," said Sakura. "Just imagine how much more powerful Mirai himself is. On top of that, you're still injured. You might still be standing, but that doesn't mean your back to full strength. You could be walking to your death if you faced off against Mirai now."

"Well, can't you just heal me with your magic?" asked Goku.

"You know, even though I have fifty-two magical cards, not a single one of them can heal people," said Sakura, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "It's kinda weird, now that I think about it. I mean, a magical girl who doesn't have the power to heal people. Isn't that like, counterproductive…. Anyway, I'm losing track here. My point is, we need to regain our strength before we can fight Mirai again. Plus, we need to make sure that Usagi and the others are okay, too. They might have escaped Mirai's bomb, but that doesn't mean they got away from his henchmen."

Goku crossed his arms and closed his eyes with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm…," Goku hummed. "I don't like it…but I guess you kinda got a point there. All right – " he said, nodding affirmatively to her. "Let's go find our friends first, and then we can make Mirai pay for what he's done."

"Sound's like a plan," Sakura smiled, giving him a thumbs-up. "Since they were in the middle of the ocean when Papaya Island disappeared, whoever escaped the blast must be headed to the mainland. Let's head down there and see if we can catch up to them."

Having come to an agreement, Sakura (summoning the Fly card again) and Goku jumped over the edge of Snake Way and made a straight dive down to Animatia….

Meanwhile, unknown to either of them, a lingering threat was desperately clinging to the ridged edge of the stone pathway. With an enormous amount of difficulty, they barely managed to pull themselves back on to the road safely, revealing themselves to be the Forgery that Sakura had believed to be thrown over. It was weak, it's body in tattered, but it was still clinging to life. The only survivor crawled to the edge of the pathway, craning its head down and watching both of its targets fly freely back to ground level.

For a long moment, the Forgery just sat there, contemplating its failure. But as its exposed eye began to wander, it caught something partially hidden in between the spikes on the snake's back, almost invisible if someone didn't look from a certain angle. The Forgery reached over and carefully plucked it out. It was a bright-pink card – one of the Sakura Cards. Now, suddenly, the Forgery no longer felt failure, but a new opportunity as it flipped the card over and stared at the name boldly printed at the bottom: **The Maze**.

* * *

 **[Goku and Sakura Kinomoto have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	4. The Seaside Skirmish

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Four: The Seaside Skirmish**

* * *

Their short ride across the ocean was turning out to be a lot longer than they had expected. It was strange how the shore looked so close yet they weren't making headway. But, considering that this was the world of anime, it probably had something to do with plot convenience. Gamakichi swam diligently towards the mainland while Naruto and Sailor Moon sat on top of his wide head, making plans for what they would do when they finally arrived on shore (if they ever did, at this pace).

"Ryuko is a given," said Sailor Moon pointedly. "She'll want payback for what they did to her sister. We can head straight to the woods of Hakumei and Mikochi's anime; that where I heard she was headed last – said she wanted to see the tiny people. Hmm…I would want to bring the other Sailor Scouts, but all of them went on vacation to the Western Continent to catch the Avatar convention. Except for Chibiusa. Only the moon knows where that brat ran off to. What about you? Think of anybody that can help?"

"Everyone from my anime is pretty much a useless pile of crap except for Sasuke," said Naruto, humming thoughtfully. "But he's always running off somewhere, brooding. What about the guys from Goku's anime? We could ask Krillin and Vegeta – "

"If Vegeta found out that Goku got beat by a villain that even you could defeat, he'll be insufferable," said Sailor Moon exasperatedly. "And Krillin…okay, he's not the most useless character in the show – Yamcha has that position locked up tight – but I don't know about inviting him into our war. Not only does he have a family, but he really doesn't contribute much these days."

"Well, he's better than nothing," said Naruto.

"Uh, guys," Gamakichi bellowed, making them both jump. "Don't mean to interrupt this enlightening conversation, but you might wanna look up."

Naruto and Sailor Moon blinked owlishly, tilted their heads back, and their jaws practically dropped into the ocean. The Black Star, Mirai's mobile base of operations, was flying directly above their heads and neither one of them had realized it was there. It was coming down from the yellow clouds that hung over Animatia's skyline, possibly coming back from a trip to Snake Way. Its long shadow glided over the lapping waves as the massive airship made its way towards the mainland.

"So…what're we supposed to do?" asked Naruto hesitantly. "Are we supposed to, like, fight it or something?"

"Are you insane?" Sailor Moon yelled, making Naruto flinch. "How do you expect the two of us to deal with a ship that big? That would be suicide! No one would be dumb enough to take on that huge flying fortress on their own!"

"What about that guy?" asked Gamakichi, pointing a webbed finger toward the sky.

Naruto and Sailor Moon snapped their heads back towards the sky again as a streak of pink zipped through the air and caught up with the Black Star in the blink of an eye. Neither one of them could make out who was creating the pink streak. They were approaching the starboard side of the ship when unknown flyer suddenly shot the airship with a concentrated beam of pink energy, causing a small explosion that left a trail of smoke in its wake. Immediately, Naruto and Sailor Moon could hear warning sirens off in the distance.

"That guy just kicked the hornet's nest," said Sailor Moon.

"Gamakichi, don't go after them," Naruto told the massive toad. "We don't want to get involved with that just yet."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Gamakichi.

Back in the air, the on-board turrets mounted on the Black Star's wings buzzed to life, turning their barrels at the flying pink menace that had blasted yet another hole in the ship's armor. The turrets fired on the intruder a hundred bullets at a time. The pink blur paused in the air for a moment, possibly surprised by the outright attack, but quickly dived out of the way. Whoever was brave enough to assault the Black Star was a world-class flyer – they were swerving in an out of the bullet storm like it was nothing, almost like they were dancing between rain drops. Every so often, the pink blur would retaliate with a few shots of pink energy aimed at the airship's surface. Most of them would bounce off the Black Star's armored plating, but a few lucky ones smashed several of the starboard cannons, lessening the number of shots they had to dodge. The pink blur put on a boost of speed and flew over to the port side of the airship, repeating the same pattern.

* * *

The Forgeries were running back and forth on the bridge of the Black Star, trying to get a handle on the situation outside. Through the various monitors, they could see the pink streak flying in and out of their camera range but couldn't get a clear identity on who was causing it; the pink energy obscuring their figure so that they only resembled a shadow. One of the Forgeries stepped away from the controls and marched into the middle of the room where a single, high-backed chair was facing the wide viewing window in front, dutifully saluting the person sitting in it.

"Analysis has been completed, Forgery No. 8771 reports to her commanding officer. Scans confirm that the energy is composed of high-density mana, also known as magic. Forgery No. 8771 offers her suspicion that the attacker is a magical girl and fears that they may do permanent damage to the flagship. They have thus far succeeded in evading our turrets. What shall we do, Forgery No. 8771 asks her commanding officer."

It appeared that the Forgeries were capable of speech, though their tones were mechanical and they referred to themselves in the third person. If the commanding officer found this strange, they did not express their opinion. The commanding officer sat up from their seat and took a step closer toward the window as the pink streak zoomed past their vision.

The commanding officer was short in stature, but large in bulky, mostly because of the heavy suit of armor that it was forced to wear. Various plates of steel were clamped and strapped to its body, arms, and legs, though they looked more like they were meant to restrain the commander rather than protect them. This idea was reinforced by the fact that several broken chains were still cuffed on its wrists, ankles, and neck. The armor appeared to be originally gray in color but was now drenched in splotches of red that looked suspiciously like blood. It dawned a tattered red cape along with a featureless mask that covered the upper half of their face, also splattered in blood.

 **WRETCHED EGG (Deadman Wonderland)**

The Wretched Egg was silent as it watched the pink blur streak across the air once again. Then it raised its hand and clenched its fingers into a fist. The Forgery nodded.

"At once, Forgery No. 8771 acknowledges her commanding officer's command." She spun around, waving her hand dramatically to the rest of the Forgeries. "Activate the Great Rock Cannon!"

* * *

Back outside the Black Star, the unknown magical girl continued to swerve through the hailstorm of bullets with the greatest of ease while simultaneously blasting the turrets to shreds. It had seemed like she would be able to take the Black Star down on her own – that's what she must have though at least, being that she was there by herself. But with her mind occupied on taking down the turrets, she hadn't realized that a massive black cannon was emerging from the underside of the ship's front. The barrel of the cannon glowed with a blue light, the weapon humming with life as a crackling blue fire began to build around the muzzle. The great cannon held its fire while the magical girl flew around from the side, blasting yet another hole in the armor. And then, once she was in front of the ship, it fired.

The resonating boom from the cannon's shot could be heard even by Naruto and Sailor Moon several hundred feet below; both of them had to cover their ears, wincing. The magical girl, who was much closer to the ship, tripped over themselves in the air, and spiraled into a stop, seemingly disoriented from the noise. But doing so left them directly within firing range of the cannon's bullet, which was a twenty-foot boulder coated in ethereal blue flames. Whether or not the magical girl managed to defend themselves was unknown. She disappeared behind the blue flaming rock and never popped back up again. The giant rock went flying towards the mainland, where it would inevitably crash.

Down below, Naruto and Sailor Moon stared dumbstruck at the sky as the Black Star continued on its way.

"Oh my god…did that just….," Sailor Moon moaned fretfully.

"It's okay," said Naruto. "An anime death is never confirmed unless there is a body. And when was the last time you ever heard of a magical girl dying?"

"What about in Gin Minowa?" asked Sailor Moon.

"….Well, we still haven't see a body, so…," said Naruto anxiously.

* * *

The Wretched Egg stared intently through the airship's window, watching the great cannon's bullet flying towards Animatia. Judging by the speed and direction, it was probably headed towards one of the lake zones. The Wretched Egg made a low growling noise in the back of its throat, silently pondering. Not a moment later, Forgery No. 8771 marched up behind their commanding officer and offered them another dutiful salute.

"The magical girl has been confirmed hit, Forgery No. 8771 proudly reports. However, we have yet to reach any confirmation as to whether or not the magical girl is dead. He will be sending a search team momentarily." The Wretched Egg made another low growling noise, nodding in response. "One more thing, commander, Forgery No. 8771 adds immediately. We have confirmed two anime characters just below the ship."

The Forgery steps forward, pulled out a tablet from underneath their cloak and tapping the screen. She presents it to the Wretched Egg, who only tilts their head slightly in interest. The image was grainy, but there was no mistaking that particular style of eye-gouging orange.

"We have confirmed them to be the escaped protagonists, Forgery No. 8771 tells her commanding officer. Naruto Uzumaki and Sailor Moon. Mirai considers their capture to be high priority. What shall we do, Forgery No. 8771 asks expectantly."

The Wretched Egg continues its vow of silence, but instead points its index finger downward. The Forgery seemed to understand the silent order as she nodded in confirmation and turned to its comrades, shouting:

"Release the Abyssals!"

* * *

"It looks like they're leaving," said Gamakichi, eyeing the Black Star anxiously. "Seriously, those are the guys you're plannin' to go up against. How're ya gonna do that? They have a huge croakin' ship! And a big gun! A really, _really_ big gun!"

"That's why we need to make our way to the mainland and gather our forces," said Sailor Moon seriously. "It'll take no less than an army to break in there."

"Hey, Miss Moon, what's that?" Naruto asked uncertainly, pointing back up at the Black Star.

Sailor Moon followed his finger. A secret hatch on the underside of the airship was opening. five objects fell out of the opening, but they were at too great of a distance to see properly when they hit the water one after another. They had little time to wonder what had fallen from the Black Star when, almost immediately, a muffled boom sounded off in the distance and sound of an oncoming shell. Naruto barely grabbed Sailor Moon by her shoulders, shouting "LOOK OUT!", and throwing them both flat on Gamakichi's head just moments before a bolt flew over their heads. The water behind them exploded, nearly throwing the heroes off Gamakichi, showering them in salt water.

"You know, considering number of times I've come close to dying," said Sailor Moon, putting a hand over her thumping heart, "you would think I would be better prepare for stuff like that."

"I don't think we're out of the woods – er, water – just yet," said Naruto, gritting his teeth towards the origin of the attack.

There were five bodies moving across the water, practically gliding, and head towards them at an alarming speed. The two creatures leading the small platoon looked like miniature disfigured whales with craggy, black skin that looked closer to rock pale white eyes, and, even stranger, cannons coming out of their open mouths. The two following were more human shaped, resembling couple of pale-skinned woman with cold, lifeless eyes and barely any clothing to speak of. Both were carrying heavy-looking weapons on their arms that closely resembled the monsters that were leading the charge.

But in the very back of the pack was a regal-looking pale-skinned women with shimmering silver hair. Her tattered black cape fluttered in the wind behind her as they made their approach, perfectly posed with a jagged black cane in hand. Atop her head was something that Naruto could only describe as a "giant mushroom with teeth and legs" though in truth, that was probably the farthest thing from the truth. But its face held a very noticeable feature. While her right eye was a piercing-gold color, the left eye was hollow with cracks around the socket, like someone had shot it, and a flickering blue flame flared in its place.

 **STANDARD CARRIER WO-CLASS (Kantai Collection)**

"Okay, what in the name of the sacred moon are those things?" asked Sailor Moon, mouth agape.

"They're part of the Abyssal Fleet," said Gamakichi wisely, "hostile enemy forces that come from the bottom of the ocean, born from the deaths of sunken fleet girls. They have a singular goal to wipe out all of humanity from the sea." Naruto and Sailor Moon gave the giant toad a strange look, which he noticed. "What? A guy can't like animes about military girls? The ones in front of us – the fishy-looking ones are Destroyers, the basic enemy, and the skimpy chicks are Heavy Cruisers – a hell of a lot stronger."

"What about the one in back?" asked Naruto, pointing out the woman with the flaming eye.

"It looks like a Standard Carrier, but…that face of hers…I think she's one of the major antagonists of the show," said Gamakichi.

"Does she kind of remind you of – " Sailor Moon started, but was promptly cut off when the water exploded next to them. The Abyssal were attacking.

Both the Destroyers and the Heavy Cruises were shooting off a volley of cannon fire that was landing dangerously close to their position, but they were thankfully very terrible when it came to aiming. Geysers of salt water exploded around all sides; Sailor Moon screamed and instinctively hid behind Naruto, who threw his arm out protectively in front of the Sailor Scout. Gamakichi, being their only means of transportation, turned pointedly to the left and paddled as hard as gigantic limbs could move. Unfortunately, Gamakichi wasn't as fast in the water as he would have been on land; the toad's prided himself on his jumping ability, but without a solid surface to stand on, he had no way of doing so. The Abyssal gave chase after them while the Destroyers and the Heavy Cruisers switched position. The Carrier remained in her spot in the back of the group, her single eye narrowed thoughtfully.

The Heavy Cruisers were now gliding the waters along either side of Gamakichi, pointing their weapons at the toad's bumpy skull. At this close range, there was no way they could possibly miss. But just as they pulled they started to shoot, Gamakichi pushed his legs under the water and pushed himself backwards. The cannon fire barely skimmed his nose and flew at their comrade; the Heavy Cruisers ducked out of the way at the last second. The Destroyers that were floating behind Gamakichi were knocked aside by the toad's heavy mass and spiraled uncontrollably in the water, falling on their sides, disoriented. Only the Carrier had the sense to pull back before Gamakichi's ploy, stopping just short of the toad's reach.

The Carrier remained still and waited for the toad to stop move when she sensed something from above. Naruto had jumped off Gamakichi's head, summoned a clone, and was holding a Big Ball Rasengan over his head, free-falling toward the Abyssal leader. He threw the energy globe at the silver-haired woman, who surprisingly made no attempts at moving at just stared straight into the Rasengan with an apathetic look.

Naruto had come so close to landing his target when a sharp buzzing noise suddenly shrieked through the air. Unwittingly distracted, Naruto turned his attention skywards and came across a very unusual sight. Strange black creatures were flying in a circular pattern over the battlefield – the kind of looked like oversized beetles with teeth. Except bugs didn't swoop into a tactical dive bomb, not did they suddenly start shooting bullets from their heads. They open fired on the Big Ball Rasengan, which exploded from the additional pressure, and threw Naruto back. The orange-clad ninja was able to land securely on the water surface (yeah, he could walk on water!) and gritted his teeth at the Carrier as the flying monsters glided overhead.

"Where did they come from?" Sailor Moon asked, following the flying monsters with her eyes.

"Those are fighter planes," answered Gamakichi. "Carrier Abyssal can create them for reinforcements."

"And you're just mentioning this now?" Sailor Moon screeched furiously.

"I'm a little busy trying to keep us alive!" Gamakichi snapped back. "And why aren't you fighting? We're the ones doing all the hard work here!"

"In case you haven't noticed," Sailor Moon roared, "I'm not a freakin' frog or a ninja! I'm the pretty guardian of the _**MOON**_ , not the ocean. Ugh, where's Ami-chan when you need her?"

"Don't worry, I got this," said Naruto confidently, crossing his fingers together. " **Shadow Clone Justu!** "

As the fighter planes summoned by the Carrier swooped in from above Naruto, they became lost in the clouds of smoke that suddenly exploded on the ocean surface. The Carrier, who was standing on the edge of the smokescreen, stared silently into the haze…then she suddenly whipped her cane through the air, smashing the three objects that were thrown her way to the side. The Abyssal flagship didn't need to look at what they were; she already knew that her fighter planes had been crushed the moment they stopped transmitting. She resumed her natural pose and stared into the smokescreen once more, inexpressive when the clouds were pushed aside and the Abyssal suddenly found herself facing off against five Narutos, each holding a sphere of swirling energy in their hands.

"Take this!" the leading Naruto shouted. " **Ultra-Many Spiraling Serial Spheres!** "

"That name is way too long!" Sailor Moon snapped.

In spite of the pretty guardian's critique, the squad of orange-clad shinobi threw themselves forward with their Rasengans; the Carrier was once again unflinching in the face of danger. This may be due to the fact that the Heavy Cruisers suddenly zoomed in, completely out of nowhere, set themselves between Naruto and their flagship, and raised their oversized weapons like shields. All five Rasengans connected with the faux walls that the Abyssal formed, unleashing an astonishing amount of pressure that made the ocean ripple with raging waves…but the Heavy Cruisers did not flinch. Naruto's jaw dropped. Even with five full-powered Rasengans, they didn't even make a dent in the Abyssal's armor. In hind sight, he should have known that creatures that are born at the bottom of the ocean would be used to pressure.

The Carrier watched the scene from behind her followers; she looked almost bored…. She slammed the end of her cane into the water and the Heavy Cruisers shoved the Naruto squadron back with the incredible strength, sending them flying into the air. Another slam of her cane, and the Carrier called for the Destroyers that had been temporarily immobilized. Along with the Heavy Cruisers, they took aim into the air and unloaded their rounds. The hits connected with little resistance from the ninja and created a powerful explosion in the air that made the water shudder beneath.

"Naruto!" Sailor Moon cried fearfully.

The young ninja fell to the water after the resulting explosion but managed to flip around in the air to landed securely in a kneeling position on the surface. Though still alive, he was worse for wear; his favorite jacket was burned and frayed with an entire sleeve missing and his headband was hanging by a thread. Naruto glared at the Abyssal while swiftly reaching for his pouch but stayed his hand when the Heavy Cruisers pointed their cannons directly at his face. From the back of the pack, the Carrier stared coldly at Naruto as she raised her cane overhead, preparing to issue the final command.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Sailor Moon shouted defiantly. She shot to her feet and all but ripped the tiara from her forehead; the jewelry glitters with a brilliant light and transform into a ring shape. " **Moon Tiara Boomerang!** "

She tosses the moon-powered tiara off to the side, away from the Abyssal fleet. The Heavy Cruisers followed it with their eyes curiously; Naruto used the opportunity to kick one of the Abyssals in the stomach, making it double over, and dash back to Gamakichi. While the other Heavy Cruiser open fired on Naruto, the moon tiara curved around in the air and shot backwards toward the Carrier, who was staring straight ahead without even noticing its return. The moon tiara slammed into the side of the Carrier's head…or at least it would have if the Abyssal flagship hadn't used its cane to snatch the accessory out of the air. The tiara clattered against Carrier's cane as it lost power and resumed its normal form; the Carrier dangled it in front of her like a trophy.

"Hey, that's my fourth favorite head accessory!" Sailor Moon snapped.

"Moon, behind you!" Naruto suddenly called out in a panic.

The pretty guardian didn't have any time to react before she realized that the water had sprung up behind her and a long shadow loomed overhead. With wide, terrified eyes, Sailor Moon turned around as if in slow motion, coming face-to-face with the Destroyer Abyssal as it jumped out of the water, it's cannon only feet away from her face. At times like this, Usagi would have screamed and unconsciously activated her Supersonic Waves, but her voice was lost in her throat and her whole body quivered in fear. Naruto tried to run to her, but the Heavy Cruiser shot him in the back, throwing him facedown into the water. The Destroyer's cannon clicked ominously –

A muffled crack cut through the air, a soft whizzing noise a getting louder, and a resounding _**BOOM**_ shook the waters.

Sailor Moon stared, mouth agape, as the Destroyer inexplicably exploded from the side and splashed back into the water, lying limp on the surface, dead.

Another crack sounded and the other Abyssal Destroyer had unexpectedly burst into flames as well, howling in pain before it sank beneath the waves. The Heavy Cruisers immediately fell back as more cracks snapped through the tense atmosphere; they glided back over to the Carrier and formed their human (Abyssal?) wall to protect their flagship as another series of explosions ignited against their shields. For the first time since the battle started, the Carrier stoic expression shifted into one of pure hatred, gnashing its teeth and narrowing its one eye off into the distance.

Sailor Moon, Naruto, and Gamakichi swiveled around to see what the Abyssal was getting so upset about. Coming up over the horizon was another girl gliding across the water, but she was different from the Abyssal. She had a normal skin tone and short brunette hair tied in a short ponytail. She had donned a white and black sailor uniform like any other high school girl, but also thrown in the addition of what looked like a ship's rigging on her back, torpedo mounts on her thighs, and carried a double-barreled turret in her right hand. Geez, girls these day wore some pretty elaborate stuff, Naruto thought dryly.

"Hang in there, everyone!" the fleet girl shouted. "Help is on the way!"

 **FUBUKI (Kantai Collection)**

"Fubuki-chan!" Gamakichi squealed like a teenage fangirl.

"Another one?" Naruto said worriedly.

"No, I think she's on our side!" cried Sailor Moon. "She's here to save us!"

"Put she's just one person," said Naruto. "How can she take them on when we had a hard time?"

"Don't go underestimating Fubuki-chan!" yelled Gamakichi indignantly. "She's super awesome! Just you watch!"

The Abyssal seemed to be along the same line of thinking because the Carrier jabbed her cane at the approaching Fleet Girl and the Heavy Cruisers shot straight at her, completely ignoring the other heroes.

Fubuki swerved back and forth over the waves with practiced skill, never staying in one place for too long, as opposed to the Abyssal that were just coming at her in a straightforward charge. The Heavy Cruisers wasted little time unloading their entire ammunition on the little Fleet Girl, shooting off several dozen rounds per minute in a hailstorm of firepower. Fubuki ducked and weaved her way through the bombardment, almost like she could tell where the bullets were going to land before they hit. Once clear, Fubuki brought up her weapon and took a considerable amount of time aiming, which allowed the Heavy Cruiser's to raise their weapons protectively over their faces. What they failed to realize is that was exactly what Fubuki was hoping for….

When the Heavy Cruisers had raised their defenses, Fubuki immediately shifted her turret lower and took a shot. A pair of bullets skimmed over the surface of the ocean and hit their intended targets at both of the right Heavy Cruiser's kneecaps. The fortified Abyssal toppled forward as both of its legs were blown out, but still fought to stay above the surface. It mattered very little as Fubuki followed up with a second volley; one shell exploded against its chest and the other squarely in the face. Nothing of the Heavy Cruiser remained because its destroyed body had sunk to the darkness beneath the waves.

Crying out in fury at its comrade's demise, the second Heavy Cruiser took aim and shot wildly at Fubuki, who skimmed back and forth through the water just out of reach of the cannon fire. The Fleet Girl glided in a half circle around the Abyssal, maintaining her distance and shooting back her own wild shots, as she had no time to aim them properly. Nearly all of Fukubi's shots missed their target by feet, but there were a select few that came close to reaching. Those were then deflected by the Heavy Cruiser's shield. The armored Abyssal didn't stop shooting nor did it try to get any closer to Fubuki. If it was possible, it seemed like the Heavy Cruiser was actually afraid of Fubuki. Fubuki hummed thoughtfully to herself, frowning. If the Abyssal wasn't going to let her get close with her turret, she would just have to use another method –

Fubuki then spun around and began to glide the water backwards; a feat that could only come from training and experience. As she deftly dodged the Abyssal's cannons, her eyes locked on to their target while the mounts on her legs turned on their own, aiming the torpedoes forward. The Fleet Girl did a little skip and "ground her feet" into the water, making her come to a complete stop and lock herself in a braced stance.

"Torpedoes launch!" shouted Fubuki.

One after another, four of her on-board torpedoes jumped out of their mount and into the water, diving below in the depths where they could not be seen. The Heavy Cruiser somehow failed to see what Fubuki had done; it was half hiding its face behind its protective cover and firing aimlessly in the Fleet Girl's general direction. In doing so, it could see the torpedoes that were soaring through the water until they were directly underneath it. The realization only came when it noticed a tiny spark of light beneath its feet before it was consumed in a great fiery explosion.

"Yatta!" Fubuki cheered as the charred remains of the Abyssal sank beneath the waves. "I wish Akagi-senpai was here to see how much stronger I've gotten. I've become a real protagonist now!"

Her celebration was cut short when an ominous figure moved within the smoke of the explosion. Fubuki's expression immediately turned serious and she raised her turret in defense as the Abyssal Carrier glided through the haze. She leered at Fubuki with a sense of malice it had not given to Naruto or Sailor Moon; Fubuki returned the glare in kind. The Abyssal covered its flaming left eye with its hand, baring her teeth as if to express just how deeply she hated the Fleet Girl.

"Come on…," Fubuki challenged. "I'll take you on again…. And I'll defeat you again, too…."

The Abyssal Carrier almost seemed tempted to charge straight in with the way it was gripping its cane so tightly, threatening to break it in half. But then, she calmed down. Her grip loosened, her hand lowered from her face, and she maintained her expressionless façade once more. Fubuki lowered her weapon as well, sensing that the Carrier was no longer an imminent threat. The Abyssal shot Fubuki with one last pointed look, then turned on its heel and glided into the smoke, where it would no doubt make its escape under cover. Fubuki's arms fell to her side, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Phew…I forgot how scary that one is," Fubuki muttered. "I thought my heart was going to stop…."

"FUBUKI-CHAN!"

The Fleet Girl spun around at the call of her name, letting out a surprised yelp when a twenty-foot toad dived at her with its lumpy arms stretched wide. Naturally, she pulled back out of her reach and let him splash into the water, creating a lot of turbulent waves that nearly threw her off-balance. Sailor Moon as well was trying to hang on, clinging to Gamakichi's brow while the overexcited toad was throwing himself around. Speaking of whom, Gamakichi was inching slowly closer to Fubuki with a really creepy grin; Fubuki shivered uncomfortably and pulled her turret on him. Fortunately, Naruto touched her arm to stop her before she could blow the toad's brains out.

"Could you please not shoot him?" Naruto requested. "He's a little weird, but he's still out ride."

"Fubuki-chan! I can't believe I'm meeting Fubuki-chan!" Gamakichi fawned, fanning himself with his webbed hands. "You're like, my favorite of all the Fleet Girls! Ooh, can you sign my forehead? Pleeeeeeeease?"

"Uh…," Fubuki stammered awkwardly.

"Please ignore him," said Sailor Moon, bopping the toad on the head for good measure; Gamakichi whined. "Thanks for helping us out with those Abyssal things. You're really good on the water."

"Well, that is what I was made for," said Fubuki proudly. "I have tons of experience of fighting the Abyssal, especially the Carrier with the flaming eye. You could saw that she's like my archenemy."

"How did you find us, by the way?" asked Naruto. "I didn't think we had any friends nearby, especially out in the middle of the ocean."

"To tell you the truth, I didn't know you were here until I heard the Abyssal gunfire," said Fubuki, scratching her chin shyly. "I was following that giant airship headed for the mainland trying to catch up to Nanoha-san."

"Nanoha?" Sailor Moon gasped. "Nanoha Takamachi? She was here? Wait, was she the one that attacked Mirai's ship all by herself?" Fubuki nodded. "What is she? Crazy? I know she's one of the smartest magical girls in Animatia, but what was she thinking taking on Mirai's flying fortress all by herself."

"Well, she wasn't supposed to be all alone," said Fubuki, looking down with a guilty expression. "You probably don't remember, but Mirai set off a bomb – "

"The Retcon Bomb," said Naruto, nodding. "Yeah, we remember that; we barely managed to make it out of the blast. But I don't remember why he set it off."

"That's because it was erased from our memories," Fubuki explained. "He used it to erase the World Martial Arts Tournament…. I guess that's something super important by the way Nanoha-san described it, but I really don't get it myself. But somehow, Nanoha-san remembered everything. I think she's immune to the Retcon Bomb's effects."

"Well, at least we know we have a back up plan," said Sailor Moon, sounding relieved. "But where do you come into all this?"

"Oh, right," said Fubuki, catching herself. "Since Nanoha-san could remember what happened, she knew what Mirai had done and figured out what his plan is. So she gathered up all the military-based animes she could find: Kantai Collection, Strike Witches, and Girls Und Panzers – she wanted a military presence on land, sea, and sky. The plan was to make a unified strike on the enemy's flagship and reduce their firepower…except…."

"It didn't work out?" asked Naruto.

"After the World Martial Arts Tournament was destroyed, the entire country suddenly lit up with enemy activity," Fubuki explained seriously. "Forgeries attacking Luna Nova, Abyssal storming Squid Girl Beach, Neuroi over the skies of the Soul Society. It's like the World Martial Arts Tournament was the signal flare for an all-out invasion."

"So you were forced to divide your forces to fight back against the sudden threat," said Sailor Moon knowledgably, "forcing Nanoha to attack Mirai's ship all on her own."

"Akagi-senpai was worried about Nanoha-san, so she asked me to follow her," said Fubuki, hanging her head remorsefully. "But I was too late. Nanoha-san is…."

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Naruto, clapping Fubuki roughly on the back. "It's like I was tellin' Moon. We didn't see a body, so we don't know if she's dead yet. I don't know Nanoha like you or Moon does, but she sounds super strong if she was able to get an entire military organized together in less than a day. And she's a magical girl on top of that. When we the last time you ever heard of a magical girl dying?"

"What about that time when – ?" Fubuki started, but Naruto cut her off.

"Okay, I admit it, I don't watch a lot of magical girl shows, okay!"

"But Naruto is right," said Sailor Moon reassuringly. "Nanoha is one of the strongest magical girls every created. She's survived a lot worse than a big rock. Haven't you seen her latest movie? Nanoha is alive and she's probably waiting for you. Wanna come with us? We can look for her together."

"Really?" asked Fubuki, gasping happily. "Oh, thank you, Miss Moon."

"Y-you don't have to call me Miss Moon," said Sailor Moon, chuckling embarrassingly.

"This – is – AWESOME!" Gamakichi cried happily. "I get to go on adventure with Fubuki-chan!"

"You know I'm gonna send you back the minute we reach the mainland, right?" said Naruto, staring blankly at the toad.

"AWWWWW!"

* * *

 **[Fubuki has joined your party]**

* * *

 **In the original draft, Fubuki was never supposed to appear – I honestly didn't plan for any of the military animes when I was making the plans for this story months ago. But as I was writing this, I just went with it and decided to include them. Not only was it to give the heroes equal footing against Mirai's ever-growing army, but I just wanted to stuff as many of my favorite animes in this as I could. Military animes and magical girls are honestly my two favorite genres – that's why I love Nanoha so much. So you can expect that the roster will be a little bigger than it was in the source material, including the bonus characters that weren't included in the main storyline. It's like having my own personal Infinity War.**

 **And for those of you looking forward to it, I have finished the next chapter of the Contest of Champions. But i won't be posting it until the first of May. I did promise that the hiatus would be for a whole month.**

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	5. With All My Might

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Five: With All My Might**

* * *

The Japari Jungle was howling with liveliness that was unusual at this time of day, especially when the next Kemono Friend tour group was due for another hour. But the screeching of tires across dirt overwrote the shrill call of the kookaburras. The high trees rustled as something carved a straight path through the jungle towards the outer edge of the area. A moment later, red-and-white hovering carrier shot out of the trees being piloted by a frantic Forgery while two Forgeries were gripping their cargo for dear life. They were transporting a gigantic transparent crystal which must have been ten feet tall and so thick that even with the two Forgeries holding it from either side, their hands still couldn't meet. Inside the crystal was the silhouette of…something…. It looked like a person….

The Forgery piloting the hover carrier slammed the breaks with her foot and spun the wheel in the opposite direction; they were coming dangerous close to a cliff. Though her driving skill left a lot to be desired, the Forgery managed to turn fast and hit the accelerator to put them securely on the open road without sending them flying over. The two Forgeries in the back let out sighs of relief.

"Where did you learn to drive, Forgery No. 7632 askes indignantly! We almost lost the cargo!"

"Well, excuse me, Forgery No. 9902 yells in response to Forgery No. 7632. I would like to see you do better."

"We don't have time for your petty arguments, Forgery No. 8119 scolds Forgery No. 9902 and Forgery No. 7632. We must return to base immediately with the acquired cargo. Have there been any signs of our pursuers, Forgery No. 8119 asks Forgery No. 7632."

"Why don't you see for yourself, Forgery No. 7632 answers."

The Forgery points over her shoulder while speaking in the third person. The other Forgery cranes her head to the left, frowning. Off in the distance, they could hear the sounds of a huge battle taking place somewhere deep in the jungle and it was getting closer by the minute. As the they turned off to the side down a natural ramp and started making their way toward ground level, they began to see the bodies flying out of the trees – the bodies of their Forgery sisters. The Forgery piloting the craft had to swerve out of the way when a couple of unconscious bodies landed in their path. And that's when they heard his voice….

"Tremble in fear, villains!"

The Forgeries snapped their heads up. A man leapt out of the dense jungle and landed on the edge of the cliff above them, striking an overdramatic hero pose. He is an extremely large man with a very tall and overly-muscular figure, somewhat resembling stereotypical western comic book superheroes. He has short blonde hair with two distinct bangs that stand up over his head, casting a dark shadow over his face while still managing to shine his impossibly white teeth. His costume was so overly colorful and flamboyant that this author could bother wasting time describing it ("HEY!" said the man indignantly).

The extremely buff man flexed his muscles threatening as her loomed overhead of the Forgeries with her permanent smile, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"For I am here!"

 **ALL MIGHT (My Hero Academia)**

"He is annoyingly persistent, Forgery No. 9902 announces in irritation. Get rid of him!"

The Forgeries in the back of the carrier throw out their arms, pointing in All Might's direction, and summon their bloody snakes from underneath their sleeves. All Might braced himself ready to fight the Forgery's Branches of Sin when the rustling of the trees behind him cause him to momentarily look away.

Someone else had come out of the forest, sweating and slightly winded. A boy, somewhere in his mid-teens, with messy dark-green hair and freckles; rather plain-looking, but definitely had a slightly muscular build. Garbed in a light-green full body unitard with a metal platted respirator hanging around his neck and heavy-looking metal boots. He dashed over toward All Might when he noticed the bloody snakes coming at the hero.

"Don't – Don't worry…All Might," he said, wheezing slightly. "I'll get those – "

"Get out of my way, Deku!" a furious voice yelled from behind him.

Before the boy nicknamed Deku realized what was happening, he was sharply pushed to one side when another boy shoved past him. His ash-blonde hair spiked in every direction and his sharp eyes had a menacing red tinge, making him resemble something of a supervillain. His costume resembled something that would be worn by military soldiers, but what stood out the most about his appearance was the pair of oversized grenade-looking gauntlets on his arms.

 **IZUKU MIDORIYA (My Hero Academia) – KATSUKI BAKUGO (My Hero Academia)**

All Might opened his mouth ready to say something about working together, but Bakugo shot past him before the massive superhero could get the first word out. He jumped off the edge of the cliff, without hesitation and fear, propelling himself forward to meet the blood snakes in the air. He threw his arms ahead with a furious battle cry and the sky above the jungle was suddenly bathed in the blazing light of several dozen explosions going off at once. All Might crossed his arms over his face as the backdraft washed over them; Midoriya, who had just gotten back to his feet, was knocked back down again; the Forgeries down below were nearly upended and it took a great deal of skill to keep their hover carrier from tipping over.

A thick cloud of black smoke hovered over the jungle…. A lone plume of smog began to separate from the rest, which, when pushed aside, revealed a furious-looking Bakugo flying in the direction of the Forgery's hover craft. This time, he pointed his arms behind himself when he set off the explosions from his hands again, which propelled him forward like a jet engine. He was shooting through the sky with impressive momentum, but the Forgeries quickly turned the corner along the dirt path, hoping the change of direction would lose him. But Bakugo set off an explosion the opposite way, which readjusted his direction and continued his pursuit.

"You won't get away from me, you bastards!" Bakugo screamed with a lot of unnecessary and unreasonable rage.

"Kacchan, wait!" Midoriya shouted as loud as he could. "We need to stick together!"

"I don't think he heard you, young Midoriya," said All Might, pressing his face in one of his massive hands, shaking it and sighing. "Bakugo has a temper that matches his quirk perfect, I'm afraid to say. Too hotheaded to even think straight."

"All Might, we need to go after him!" Midoriya said urgently. "Kacchan is just rushing in without even thinking like he usually does! We still don't know what kind of power those things have or who they're even working for, or even if they're working for anyone at all. They might look like henchmen, but even henchmen can be really tough, and those people looked really tough. Plus there's that strange power of theirs. I've never heard of someone with a quirk that could control blood freely like that. Unless they're not using a quirk. Are they from some other anime? They might be. But I've only see anime about superheroes like Nanoha and One Punch Man, and I can't place where they might be from – "

"Midoriya, you're rambling again!" shouted All Might, hitting him squarely between the eyes with a well-placed chop.

"Ow!" Midoriya whined, rubbing the sore spot. "Oh, sorry, All Might. I ramble when I get worried."

"And you have a right to be worried," said All Might seriously. "Those were characters from Deadman Wonderland. You would never have heard of them before because they come from a bloody and gory anime; a kind of show where people are expected to die in every episode in horrible ways. Its nothing at all like the safe and mildly controlled show we come from where death is very rare. I'm afraid Bakugo may be in over his head."

"Then why are we just standing here?" Midoriya yelled. "We have to go after him before he gets killed!"

"Right you are, young Midoriya," said All Might, flashing his glinting smile. He crouched down low and offered his back to the boy. "Climb aboard, my boy! We'll take the All Might Express."

Though Midoriya wasn't particularly fond of the idea – he had a very traumatic experience in the first episode – Bakugo's life in danger to psychopaths. He swallowed his hesitation and leaped onto All Might's like Tsuyu would, wrapping his arms around the pro hero's thick neck and locking his legs into All Might's armpits. As soon as he felt that Midoriya was secured, the massive superhero bundled himself up, building his strength, and then jumped into the air, shattering the cliffside beneath his feet upon takeoff.

The force of the leap carried them over a hundred feet in the air and soared for what must have been ten miles over the jungle at breakneck speed. All Might could feel Midoriya's whole body tensing up behind him, but he had to give the boy credit for not screaming his head off; that was a significant improvement from when they first met. But, eventually, gravity regained control and pulled the heroes back down. All Might braced himself as they dropped like a pair of lead weights into the trees, landing on his feet with an earth-shattering crash and a humongous crated that must have been twenty feet wide; the local Kemono Friends were startled and scattered like cockroaches, some of them yelling indignantly as they went.

"Sorry about that!" All Might apologized as an ocelot flipped him off. "Perhaps we should continue this journey on foot. Don't want to make the locals any more upset than they already are."

All Might took a moment to reaffirm his hold on Midoriya before took off like a speeding bullet through the jungle, weaving back and forth between the trees without ever slowing down. Midoriya knew he shouldn't be surprised – he knew All Might was super-fast – but he still can't get over how awesome he was. Although, now that he had a chance to think, there was something that had been on his mind for a while.

"Hey, All Might, can I ask you something?" said Midoriya. "That crystal that those guys were stealing? What is it exactly? It didn't look like any ordinary gemstone."

"Your observation skills are on point today, young, Midoriya," All Might complimented him. "Yes, you are indeed correct. That is no ordinary crystal that those villains stole. That was the Fairy Heart."

"Fairy Heart?" said Midoriya. "I've never heard of it, but it must be important if they're willing to go so far to steal it."

"It is excruciatingly important," said All Might, sounding uncharacteristically serious for a change. "We're still new to Animatia, Midoriya, so there's still a lot you don't understand. The Fairy Heart is from an anime called Fairy Tail, and it is one of the most important and most dangerous items in all the lands. So important that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it could change the face of the continent as we know it."

"Is it really that powerful?" asked Midoriya, surprised.

"The Fairy Heart is not just a fancy, oversized jewel," said All Might. "It is an item that can naturally produce an endless amount of energy. While Fairy Heart on its own cannot hurt anyone, it could cause serious trouble if used in the wrong hands. If someone had the right idea to use the Fairy Heart as an energy source for a very dangerous weapon – "

"They could be unstoppable," said Midoriya understandingly. "What about Fairy Tail? Aren't they helping out, too?"

"They should, but that's the strangest thing," said All Might grimly. "I know that Fairy Tail had a large cast of heroic youths – the magic guild they are named after boasts over a hundred strong members! – but I for the life of me cannot remember most of them. Save for a handful, I cannot see their faces or think of their names, as if there is a thick fog in my mind where my memories should be."

"You don't think those guys in the mask got to them, do you?" asked Midoriya, concerned.

"If they did, then we have good reason to worry," said All Might. "The members of Fairy Tail are so overwhelmingly powerful that even I would have difficulty battling against the littlest one. And if these masked villains have defeated them – "

"Then Kacchan is in danger!" cried Midoriya. "All Might, we have to hurry!"

"Right you are, Midoriya!" shouted All Might powerfully. "Hold on tight! We're going to double-time it now!"

Midoriya tightened his grip around All Might's enormous body, using One for All to the point where he had the senior superhero in a vice grip. In a split-second of time, All Might suddenly stopped in the middle of the jungle, crouched in a runner's stance, digging his feet into the dirt. The ground below visibly cracked under the strain without him needing to move. And then, in that same instance, he took off running away and the ground exploded beneath his heel, tearing apart everything behind within twenty feet from the trees and stones; quite a few Friends were sent flying as well, screaming angry profanities at the Pro Hero. Midoriya was nearly thrown off of All Might, even while using his enhanced super strength to hold on. His mentor was running at the literal speed of sound; the world around him was a blur of color without shape; his face was painfully red as the wind slapped him repeatedly. Midoriya said it before and he'll say it again – All Might is amazing.

Even while running at top speed, All Might was diligent in watching his direction. He carefully avoided running into the trees and tiptoed around the wildlife all without being noticed because he was moving too fast to be seen by untrained eyes. It only took a couple short minutes before the mass of muscle had reached the edge of the tree line, jumping out in a short leap, and landing firmly on his feet in the middle of a dirt road. All Might automatically recognized it – this was the road that the Forgeries had escaped from, and where Bakugo had been chasing them down. He pivoted on his heels and shoot down the path, kicking up a trail of dust in his wake.

"Keep an eye out, Midoriya!" All Might shouted over the howling winds. "We should be coming up on them any moment now! Alert me if you see anything!"

Easier said than done, Midoriya thought, but he nonetheless narrowed his eyes and tried to focus through the blurry environment around him. It was very difficult when he was practically being thrown around on All Might's body, but using One for All seemed to help. The more he concentrated with his Quirk, Midoriya slowly started to adjust and make out his surroundings. It started with the dirt road…then the grass…the trees were a lot harder because they were scattered, but he got there in the end…and then mentally drew the shapes of the wild Kemono Friends around…. In no time at all, he started to make out a picture of the Japari Jungle. Finally, he could get a better idea of where they were going…. Midoriya looked left and right, frantically searching through the trees, when –

"All Might, over there, look!" Midoriya suddenly shouted, pointing to something on the left.

All Might instantly ground his feet into the dirt, unconsciously sliding fifty yards before they completely stopped and built up two piles of uprooted dirt on his shoes. He shook it off and doubled back the way they came until Midoriya pointed in the direction again and poked his head through the trees.

The hover carrier the Forgeries had been using for their escape was tipped over, chunks of metal ripped off the surface, exposing several sparking wires, the Fairy Heart lying flat on the ground next to it. The Forgeries were littered around the broken carrier; one was hanging limp over the side of the vehicle, another was lying facedown in the dirt, arms and legs bended in awkward positions, and the last was leaning against a tree, head lolling over her shoulder. All Might and Midoriya, who jumped off of his mentor, stepped inside the small area and looked around. All Might kneeled down to the Forgery on the ground, noticing the scorch mark on the back of her cloak.

"Bakugo has been here," said All Might. "He certainly did a number on them, that's for sure."

"They're not…?" Midoriya asked slowly.

"No, they're still very much alive," said All Might, standing back to full height. "Even Bakugo, for all his faults, knows where to draw the line. But the thing that has me concerned is…where is Bakugo?" he added, looking around at the trees as if expecting him to pop out at any moment. "I thought he would still be here?"

"You don't think Kacchan – "

Whatever he was going to say next was cut short when a powerful explosion roared to life nearly, shooting a column of flames into the sky while the ground rumbled beneath their feet. Midoriya squeaked and fell on his butt; All Might grimaced as he started skyward at the fading fire. Another explosion went off immediately after the first, and then another, and then two at the same time, each with enough concussive force to make Midoriya loose his foot every time he tried to stand up.

"What's Kacchan doing?" Midoriya yelped as he felt forward again. "Is he fighting someone?"

As if he was asking the boy directly, Bakugo's enraged voice cut through the air like a hot knife: "Stop moving around, you bastard! Wait until I get my hand on – !"

A sharp noise rang through the air, like the cracking of a whip. The next thing they knew, Bakugo was flying backwards through the trees, shooting past All Might and over Midoriya's head, crashing into one of the thick trees behind them and slumping to the ground. Midoriya wasted no time bouncing to his feet and running over to his childhood…well, friend might be a strong word; All Might remained rooted in his place, glaring at the direction Bakugo had come from.

"Kacchan! Kacchan!" Midoriya cried, sliding to his knees at Bakugo's side and shaking his shoulders. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt? Do you need a - ?"

"Shut the hell up, you damn nerd…," Bakugo groaned, leering at him.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're all right," Midoriya said in relief.

"We won't be for long," said Bakugo, wincing when he tried to move. "He's coming."

"Correction, young Bakugo," said All Might slowly, gritting his teeth. "He's already here."

The jungle had gone strangely silent – the local Friends had probably been driven away by the explosions – making the shallow footsteps approaching sound ten times louder than they should. Midoriya, though hesitant to leave Bakugo's side, stood up and rushed over to All Might's side as both men braced themselves for battle. The foliage rustled as the footsteps got closer. Midoriya felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end; if wasn't natural – he could feel the power of One for All stirring inside of him, warning him. He tried to fight it off, but he couldn't stop the shaking in his arms.

The footsteps finally stopped; someone had stepped into the open.

Coming from an anime where freaks and weirdos were considered normal, Midoriya thought the man that the man who approached them was strange in the fact that he felt so terrifying, but was so plain-looking. He was definitely alien in origin; his prehensile tail and the three toes on his feet were a clear indication. Surprisingly enough, he was incredibly short – even Midoriya was at least three inches taller than him. His entire body was a smooth white except for the purple plates on his chest, shoulders, and the top of his round head.

The strange newcomer smirked confidently as his wine-red eyes wandered over the three heroes. All Might, though three times the height of the alien and four times as wide, his smile had visibly lessened and he unconsciously took a step back. The newcomer laughed in a high-pitched tone.

"Ohohoho!" he chortled. "My, oh my, what do we have here? A couple of 'heroes'? This far into the wilderness? Now there's a surprise. Wasn't expecting to run into your kind out here."

"All Might…is that…?" asked Midoriya, his voice quivering.

"I'm afraid so, Midoriya," said All Might anxiously.

"Oh?" said the newcomer in feign surprise. "If I am to judge based on your scared little faces, then you must know who I am. I guess my reputation precedes me, even to fledgling anime like you. But it would be quite rude if we didn't make any formal introductions." He bended slightly at the waist, arm across his chest in a mock bow. "I am the emperor of the universe and one of the greatest anime villains of all time. I am the mighty Frieza!"

 **FRIEZA (Dragon Ball Z)**

" _Oh my god…_ ," thought Midoriya, his hands noticeably trembling. " _It's Frieza – THE Frieza. One of the worst villains of all time…. What is he doing here? Wait, was he the one that sent those guys in the masks to take the Fairy Heart? But why? And how? What could he want with it…?_ "

"Midoriya…," All Might whispered out of the corner of his mouth, snapping Midoriya out of his mental mumbling. "I'm going to distract him. You grab Bakugo and both of you flee as fast as you can."

"Wait, you want us to run away?" asked Midoriya, shocked.

"You both are very strong compared to the characters in our anime," said All Might, "but this is different. The characters from Dragonball are on a higher level than us. If you stay here, you'll only be getting in the way. Frieza isn't the type of man to show mercy."

"Yeah… you're right," said Midoriya slowly, watching Frieza as he straightened up. "All right, I'll grab Kacchan and we'll make a run for it as soon as we can. I think there's a huge lake somewhere on the other side of the jungle; we could use that to meet up later…. We are going to meet up later…right?" he asked worriedly, looking up at his head, noticing now that his smile was completely gone.

All Might didn't answer right away; he was gritting his teeth and staring ahead, purposely avoiding Midoriya's eye. Then he said, very somberly, "Go, Midoriya…."

Midoriya felt like his stomach had dropped. Before he had a chance to say anything – possibly even convincing All Might to reconsider – the pro hero kicked the ground with enough force to leave a spiderweb of cracks, flying across the area like a human missile. Frieza raised one of his nonexistent eyebrows inquisitively. All Might was flying straight towards him with his arms crossed in front, reaching the short alien in seconds and locking Frieza's head directly between them. With a determined battle cry (" **Carolina Smash!** ), All Might separated his arms to deliver a deadly cross chop to Frieza's neck. The jungle behind Frieza was blown away as if it had been hit by a tornado; entire trees were pulled up by the roots and sent sailing across the air. Such an attack would kill any normal person on the spot, but Frieza, All Might thought with a grimace, wasn't a normal person.

Frieza was still alive; he was smiling cockily with his arms crossed over his chest, his tail swishing nonchalantly behind him.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked Frieza with a mocking chortle.

"Did that seriously have no effect on him?" All Might muttered to himself.

The pro hero pulled back for a quick step and then returned with a powerful right hook that nailed Frieza directly in the center of his shiny cranium; the tiny alien warlord tilted his head back from the impact, but she did not move or act like the punch had any effect. All Might grunted with a hint of worry. He punched Friea on the right side of the head, causing it to tilt sideways, and then followed up with a sharp jab to the left. Both hits had a direct impact, but Frieza wasn't showing any signs of damage; if anything, he looked positively bored.

Perhaps growing tired of All Might's inability to hurt him, Frieza lifted his tail and lashed it around at the pro hero's chest. All Might's quick senses spotted the appendage and jumped out of the way before it could connect; the wind whipped furiously when Frieza's tail snapped. When he touched the ground again, Frieza had gone on the offensive, crossing the field in the blink of an eye and throwing his fist at All might's head. The pro hero barely blocked it with his forearm, but there was an unmistakable twinge of pain on his face; All Might had only barely withstood the attack, but he had a suspicion that Frieza was holding back. He threw off Frieza's fist with an arm swipe, leaving the intergalactic warlord momentarily suspended in the air. In that spare second of time, All Might smashed Frieza with two strikes to the chest and one to the side of the head, each one carrying the force of a speeding train.

But Frieza still chuckled. He allowed himself to be carried by the force of All Might's punch and performed a series of flips before landing on his feet, just to show off. Frieza turned to All Might, looking just as confident as when they started, but he looked down and point to something on his chest. All Might leaned forward for a better look. It was hardly anything noticeable, but there, on the pale skin just below his purple chest piece, was a small set of scratches that matched the shape of All Might's knuckles.

"Well, that is a surprise," said Frieza, not the least bit concerned. "Just being able to scratch me while I'm using fifty percent of my power is a tremendous feat. You should be proud of yourself. No human has ever caused me so much as the tiniest scuff on my shins since that little cue ball on Namek. It seems you are just a _little_ stronger than most humans."

"Of course!" said All Might. "I _am_ the symbol of peace and justice!"

"Oh dear god…," said Frieza, rolling his eyes. "You sound just like spandex idiots from Super…. Now I want to kill you ten times worse than I already planned."

"You may try your best!" said All Might, raising his fists in an offensive stance. "I can take whatever you throw at me!"

"Oh, I have no doubt of that," said Frieza, smirking. "But what about your two little friends over there?"

Frieza's eyes were gazing towards the left, just behind All Might. The pro hero looked over his shoulder. Midoriya was trying to stealthily sneak away during the fight while dragged Bakugo, his rival's arm over his shoulder and limping badly. They had almost made it into the trees when Frieza called them out; both boys tensed up and looked back. Frieza smirked in a maniacal way, pointing a single finger at them. A tiny bead of red energy formed at the very tip of his finger, humming with power. He was just about to shoot them between the eyes – a clean headshot, if he was being merciful – when Frieza barely caught a glimpse of what looked like a blur of color out of the corner of his eyes.

All Might had dashed behind the emperor of the universe, crouching down so that they were at the same height. Frieza blinked in fascination as to what he might be doing when All Might's muscular arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms at his sides; his death beam discharged into the ground, making a clean hole in the dirt. The next thing he knew, Frieza was sharply lifted off the ground and carried over backwards as All Might performed a German suplex, slamming Frieza's skull into the ground. The entire jungle rumbled from the attack; Midoriya and Bakugo nearly fell over themselves from the force of the impact. That had been the strongest attack All Might had used thus far, Midoriya thought. There was no way Frieza could have escaped that uninjured….

Unfortunately, when the smoke had began to thin, both Midoriya and Bakugo were in for a nasty surprise.

Frieza had not taken the attack; the self-proclaimed emperor had bended his legs forward and firmly planted them on the ground before the suplex could connect, leaving Frieza bending at an awkward angle, but still unharmed. All Might gritted his teeth at his failure to follow through. But that was the least of his problems when Freiza's tail suddenly sprung to life, whipping around the hero's neck like a snake and constricting his air passage. All Might choked; Frieza's tail was just as powerful as the rest of him.

"That was a close one," said Frieza, sounding strangely relieved, almost like he had been worried for a second. "You knew that wasn't going to kill me, Mr. Hero. Were you planning to keep me from moving by sticking me deep in the ground to let your two little friends escape? A pretty clever move if I may say so myself. You're much more competent than Zarbon and Dodoria ever were. You know, I do have a opening for a right hand if you're interested."

"I would never…," All Might wheezed, "join the likes…of you…."

"All Might!" Midoriya cried, turning around with Bakugo. "Hold on, All Might, we'll – "

"No, young Midoriya!" All Might yelled, coughing roughly. "You have to…get out of here…. Find help…."

"But we can't just – "

"I'm sorry, young Midoriya…," said All Might, gasping. "But I don't think…I'm strong enough…to win this time…. You need to run…. Find help…."

" But I – "

"The lake…," said All Might, pushing himself now. "I can hear them from here…. Someone more powerful than I…. They can help you…. You must find…."

"No, we're not gonna – "

"Shut the hell up, Deku!" Bakugo suddenly snapped, making Midoriya jump sideways and cover his ear. "All Might gave us an order, so stop acting like a goddamn baby and move your ass!"

"Wha – Kacchan?" Midoriya stammered, looking at his rival. "How can you just – "

But Midoriya stopped himself when he got a good look at Bakugo's face. He was scowling like he always did, his teeth gritted furious, and his were gripped into tight fists. To anyone else, he looked pissed off and was looking for a fight. But Midoriya knew better than that. He was scared – Bakugo was scared. They both spent their whole lives believing that All Might was the strongest hero in the world, that he could never be beaten. And here he was, getting his ass handed to him by an alien with little effort. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Bakugo knew that if they stayed, they were going to die in an instant. They couldn't win – the best they could do was run and live to fight another day.

Any hesitation that Midoriya had was washed away. If Bakugo was willing to throw his pride away to survive, then he had no right to complain. Bakugo yelped in surprise when Midoriya suddenly threw him on his back, carrying him piggyback style. Before Bakugo could complain how embarrassing their position was, Midoriya's body started to glow with a faint light-green aura and similar-colored sparks of bioelectricity surged across his skin.

" _ **One for All: Full Cowling 20%**_ " Midoriya mentally recited.

"Hey, what the hell are you – AAAAHHHH!" Bakugo screamed as Midoriya suddenly jumped straight into the air, flying over the treetops with the speed of a rocket.

" _Be strong, young Midoriya, young Bakugo,"_ thought All Might. " _I'm putting my faith in you two –_ "

"Well, that _is_ annoying," said Frieza, cutting off All Might's mental monologue. He sharply tugged his tail up and a sharp crack rang from All Might's neck. The pro hero went very limp, his arms unlocking themselves from around Frieza, allowing the warlord to stand proper. Dusting himself off, Frieza lifted the hero by his tail and looked him over. "Hmm, still alive. That's a surprise. Most people would have died in an instant. If anything, I will admit your strong for a human. Not that it matters either way…."

Frieza carelessly drops All Might face first on the ground, then leisurely made his way over to the broken hover carrier. He stepped over the Fairy Heart and approached the Forgery lying facedown on the ground. The self-proclaimed emperor of the universe stared at the fallen minion for a long moment, eyes narrowed in a silent leer. He was looking for something…. His sharp gaze noticed on of the Forgery's hands twitch instinctively with fear. His lips twisted into a deep frown, Frieza raised his foot and slammed it down on the Forgery's skull hard, but not enough to kill her.

"GURK!" The Forgery yelped.

"You were awake the entire time," Frieza said accusingly, grinding his feet on the minion's skull. "You sniveling little lab rat. Did you seriously just leave me to fight them all on my own when you could have been helping me?"

"N-No, Lord Fireza, Forgery No. 9902 pleaded for forgiveness. I had thought that, you being so powerful, that you could easily have defeated them without my interference. I would never let you fight on your own if I did not think you could handle it, says Forgery No. 9902, sincerely wishing Lord Frieza would remove his foot."

"Tch, worthless little lab rat," Frieza clicked his tongue in annoyance. He took his foot off the Forgeery's head, only kick her in the stomach and throw her into the broken hover carrier, making her sit up. "Two things, lab rat: one, crystalize that lumbering lummox over then," he gestured his thumb over his shoulder at All Might. "Mirai is capturing some of the more important anime characters for who knows what. Might as well take him along, just in case he's interested."

"Yes, Lord Frieza, Forgery No. 9902 says respectfully. And the second, my lord?"

"Take the Fairy Heart back to Mirai," answered Frieza, pointing at the giant crystal with his tail. "Report back that the mission was successful and I'll start looking for the second item on his little list – the Saint's Cradle – in a little bit," he added as he started walking deeper into the jungle."

"Wait, Lord Frieza, Forgery No. 9902 calls out in curiosity. Where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious my little lab rat," Frieza answered with a wicked chortle. "I need to tie up a few loose ends…. That gargantuan buffoon mentioned something about a lake. I can't wait to see the looks of terror on their little faces when they see me. And then, when the reality of their situation sets in, they will realize…no one is coming to save them."

* * *

Somewhere deep in the densest parts of the Japari jungle, there is a massive lake that stretches for miles in either direction; a nice little watering hole for all the Kemono Friends to gather. Most that showed up on this semi-peaceful afternoon are those that had escaped the madness going on at the opposite end of the jungle. Here, they were safe from the terrors that were plaguing the continent of Animatia…. That was, until a thunderous boom echoed from the sky.

The Kemono Friends stared up at the noise and, as one, screamed in fright as a massive meteor tore through the clouds, coated in mystical blue flames, and started to freefall in their direction. The humanoid animals quickly bounded away as fast as their limbs could move; even the sloths were remarkably active. The entire lake shore had been cleared in under a minute, which was plenty of time before the meteor smashed into the ground with an earthshattering _BOOM!_

Several tense seconds crawled by; many of the Friends who had taken cover in the trees were cautiously poking their heads out from the foliage in curiosity. Slowly, one by one, they are started to walk back along the shoreline, making curious noises as they stared at the massive black rock that had fallen in their midst….

* * *

 **[Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	6. Plane as Day

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Six: Plane as Day**

* * *

Sakura Kinomoto glided lofty towards the ground, her wings flapping occasionally to slow her descent, while Goku hovered a short distance behind her. This didn't go unnoticed by Sakura. Goku was usually super quick in flight and could easily outstrip her, but he was probably going half her speed at this rate, and she didn't miss the occasional wincing in his eyes or when his hand unconsciously moved to his scratched-up chest. Goku had _seemed_ fine back on Snake Way, but he was probably just trying to keep up appearances so as not to worry her. Sakura cursed her own inability to help – she had fifty-two magic cards and at least a quarter of them all did the same thing; you would think Clow Reed would have the sense to come up with some variety.

The ground was coming up very soon. They were going to land in an extremely long stretch of flat grassland. Sakura recognized the terrain; it was the Battlefield – no, seriously, that is its literal name. The Battlefield was the mostly widely used territory in all of Animatia and has been used in practically every animes in existence, especially in battle animes with large, over the top war scenes. This should be a good place to rest, Sakura thought, as she dived toward the ground.

Sakura landed gently on the grass, dispelling her wings when her feet were flat on the ground, and waited for Goku to join her. The Saiyain warrior came down beside her a minute later, but just before he landed, he scrunched up his face, gritted his teeth, and his hand immediately jumped to his rib cage, letting out a sharp hiss of pain. Goku fell forward on his knees while his other hand grabbed a clump of grass and threatened to tear in out of the ground. Sakura was immediately at his side as she bounced around to his other side and forced his hand away from his injury. That's when her eyes fell on the disgusting purplish-blue bruise that had flared across his entire left side with a large swollen lump already starting to form.

"Oh my god, Goku!" Sakura shrieked fretfully. "I _knew_ you were hurt! Look at this! This is the biggest bruise I've ever seen in my life! Why didn't you say anything back on Snake Way?"

"Well, I didn't really think it was a big deal…," said Goku, laughing sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

" _Not a big deal?_ " Sakura gasped horrifically. "Goku, this is serious! You might have some internal bleeding and broken bones!"

"Yeah, that guy who sent me flying really did a number on me, huh?" said Goku, who started to chuckle again until he felt another sharp pain in his side and winced. "Ahh, ow, ow, ow. That smarts…."

"Do you ever take your own injuries seriously?" said Sakura, shaking her head, then reached inside her pocket. "We don't have any senzu beans – those things went out of style when Magical Girls started using healing spells at cheaper prizes and setting up in more convenient locations. And like I said on Snake Way, I can't use healing magic. So…."

She removed her hand from her pocket, holding out one of her Sakura Cards and holding it face front to Goku's bruise. She called upon the name of the card (" **The** **Freeze!** ") and a steady stream of ice-cold mist flowed from the card like a river, transforming into a solid patch of ice when it came into contact with Goku's skin. The Saiyan warrior naturally yelped in shock and tried to duck out of the way, but Sakura used her wand to trip him up and throw him on his back. She sat on his chest until she was done, which wasn't easy considering he was stronger than her and he wouldn't stop whining.

"AHH! COLD! COLD! COLD! COLD! COLD!" Goku screamed.

"It's not…even that…bad!" Sakura grunted, trying to steady herself. Finally, after a lot more struggling, she managed to cover the entire wound in ice and jumped off him. "There! That's help with the swelling and might do something about the bruising, but I still don't know if there might be something wrong on the inside. We're gonna have to see a doctor or another magical girl about that."

"Well, thanks for that," said Goku, shivering slightly. Sakura allowed him to hold on to her shoulder to help him stand up. "But did you have to pick that card. I'm freezing!"

"I've seen all your anime," said Sakura, rolling her eyes at him. "You've been through much worse than this."

They started walking through the grass, which honestly stretched for miles in every direction. Goku walked at a slower pace behind Sakura, who allowed her fellow veteran to lean forward and use her shoulder as a crutch since he was still limping slightly. Sakura frowned, silently admitting to herself that she had no idea where she was, and reached into her pocket, this time pulling out a smart phone – technology had taken an amazing turn since her first anime, Sakura thought as she turned on the GPS app. Goku leaned in to look at the phone, too. He had no idea what it did, of course; he was hopeless when it comes with tech.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Goku.

"Trying to figure out which is the best way to go," said Sakura. "I know we said that we should look for Naruto and Usagi, but with the condition you're in, I don't think we'd get very far if we came up against more of those Forgeries. We need to find a place to rest and heal up before we go fighting Mirai's army…. Hmm…it looks like the closest place we can go is that new school for magical girls that popped up in recent years – Luna Nova. But if we need to get there, we need to go through Japari Park, past the lake."

"Well, it's better than nothing," said Goku. "How long does it take to fly there?"

"Oh no, we're not flying anywhere," said Sakura sternly, waving her finger at him…which honestly looked rather adorable. "You're still hurt. We don't know what will happen to your body is you keep flying with that injury. And besides, Mirai's forces might still be lurking around. If we get spotted in the air – "

"All right, all right, I get it," said Goku, holding his hands up in surrender. "Man, for a kid, you sure sound a lot like an adult."

"I'm twenty-two years old; I don't act like a little kid all the time – just in my anime," said Sakura pointedly. She looked back at her smartphone, scrolling through the online map. "If we keep heading north by north-east, it'll be an eight hour walk to the Japari, but it'll be twenty-nine hours before we reach Luna Nova."

"Aw, that's too long!" Goku whined childishly. "Are you sure we can't just fly over there?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on walking the whole way," said Sakura. She slipped her hand inside her pocket – Goku, naturally, took a step back defensively – and pulled out another one of her Sakura card. She held it to the air and shouted, " **The** **Earthy!** "

Almost immediately, the ground started to shake violently; Goku yelped in surprise, staggering back and forth balancing himself on one foot, but eventually fell over on his side, though thankfully not on his bruised side. The next thing they knew, a large section of the earth rose underneath their feet, shaping into a narrow platform that lifted them both. Goku rolled over and leaned over the edge of the platform, where he spotted what looked like the two-ton shark made entirely out of dirt, wading in the ground as if it were water. The whole time, Sakura had stood firmly on her feet, waving her wand like a conductor's baton; the dirt shark reacted to each motion of her hands.

"Let's go, Earthy!" Sakura commanded. "Forward!"

The dirt shark began swimming through the tall grass, moving at an impressive sixty miles per hour; Goku was nearly thrown off for being unprepared and Sakura stood up like a captain at the helm of her ship. Goku leaned over the edge again, laughing excitedly as the ground zoomed past underneath them.

"Wow, this is awesome!" said Goku.

"Thanks," said Sakura, looking quite pleased. "I had a lot of time to practice when my original anime ended, so I started trying out different things with my card. There's this one thing I can do with Bubble and Windy that – " She looked over her shoulder to address him directly when she noticed the sudden change in his expression. One second, he had been grinning like a giddy child on their first rollercoaster ride, the next, he was staring off into the distance with his eye narrowed and a deep frown on his lips. "Hey, Goku, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Goku, still looking over the horizon as he sat up, cross-legged. "But I'm worried. I'm sensing a whole lot of fighting going on."

"Where? Is it close by?" asked Sakura worriedly.

"Well…kinda….," said Goku slowly. "I can definitely feel a few people fighting in that direction – one of them is Frieza, but I don't know who the other three are. Well, whoever they are, they don't stand a chance. But the bad thing is that they're not the only ones I can sense fighting. I can feel a whole lot of power levels rising and falling from all over. I can sense it from the mountains, the forest, the ruins, the different towns and cities. It's like the entire continent is in the middle of a huge battle."

"That's probably Mirai's forces," said Sakura, eye lowering worriedly. "If he's going through all the trouble of stealing a giant airship and building an army, he's probably planning to declare all-out war on Animatia. But why would he do that? What did we ever do to him?"

"Hmm…," Goku crossed his arms and closed his eyes, humming in thought. "He called himself the future and said we were a bunch of fossils and relics."

"You think he might be from the future?" asked Sakura. "Maybe he's some anime that hasn't been created yet and he feels like he's being overshadowed by classic animes like us. A lot of the newbie anime like Kill La Kill and Black Clover sure feel that way."

"Nah, there was something weird about the way he said it," said Goku, scrunching his brow. "It was like…I don't know…like he was trying to say something else, but it came out all wrong. Ugh, I don't know. I don't have the kind of character development necessary to think about big stuff like this!" he complained, flopping on his back.

"Which is surprising considering you have one of the longest anime series in history," said Sakura, sweat dropping.

"Yeah, but the guy who made me was too lazy to give me a real personality and just made me a guy that loves to fight," Goku admitted. "Which really sucks, because I feel like I have so much potential as a character. I mean, in the early English dub, at least they characterized me as a hero of justice. Why can't I be more like that?"

"I honestly don't care for my English version – so much censorship," said Sakura. "Hey, maybe after this is all over, we can try doing a crossover OVA – "

Sakura's words were cut up by the sound of rapid gunfire ringing across the field. When the noise first reached them, Goku's protective instincts kicked in and her threw himself over Sakura, who had paused and stared around dumbfoundedly before she was tackled from behind. The two of them fell to the ground, barely concealed by the tall grass, Goku using his body as protective cover over Sakura's smaller form; the dirt shark fell apart into a small mound when Sakura lost her concentration.

The gunshots rang out again; it sounded like they were getting closer. Sakura flinched and curled up into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible, while Goku pushed up to his knees, hissing painfully as his wounds started acting up again. The Saiyan warrior raised himself slightly so that he could see above the tall grass. In addition to the gunshots, his sharp sense of hearing also picked up the sound of propellers flapping – a noise he was very familiar with from his Dragon Ball days when he was fighting the Red Ribbon Army. He turned his eyes towards the sky and, as he expected, there were several bodies soaring around the clouds like a swarm of wild flies…. Except they weren't exactly what he had been expecting.

The majority of them _did_ look like planers, but they were covered in strange, black, scale-like armor and were pulsating with neon-red lights on different areas of their bodies. There must have been well over two dozen of them, and there were so many different models that Goku, who knew nothing about planes, couldn't even begin to describe them. These black planes buzzing around like a swarm of angry bees chasing something through their air in large groups. What they were chasing, however, was probably the weirdest thing Goku had seen yet – and that's saying something.

A teenage girl, probably only a couple years older than Sakura, was zipping back and forth through the air, dodging and weaving through the black hive. Her chestnut-brown hair was cut extremely short except for the two points where they extended off to either side, and, as if it couldn't get any weirder, she had a pair of pointed dog ears growing out of her head and short little tail at the base of her spine. Her clothes seemed to only be a sailor shirt over a school swimsuit, which was obvious fanservice if there ever was one, but the things that immediately drew Goku's attention were her legs. A pair of machines that look like airplane propellers were locked all the way up to her thighs and she seemed very skilled in maneuvering around the sky with them; Goku honestly couldn't see how that was even possible…coming from a guy who can fly just by thinking it.

The little airplane girl zipped out of the black swarm and spun around quickly as she pulled what looked like a long machine gun over her shoulder, rapidly firing on the enemy. The black planes scattered away from the bullet storm, but at least four of them had taken direct hits and were sent spiraling towards the ground, emitting black plumes of smoke. The airplane girl pumped her fist in celebration…which quickly turned into a surprised cry when the enemies converged on her again and started shooting her with red lasers.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" She cried as she flipped around and started zipping back and forth to dodge the lasers. "Why does this kind of thing always happen to me? How could everyone just leave me behind! WAAAAHHHH!"

 **YOSHIKA MIYAFUJI (Strike Witches)**

"She looks like she's in trouble," Goku said to Sakura, who stood up and followed the Strike Witch with her eyes. "We've gotta help her."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Sakura yelped, pulling Goku back by his arm when she started to stand. "You can't just go out there and fight them. You're still in bad shape."

"We can't just leave her by herself," said Goku defiantly, staring up worriedly.

"We're not," said Sakura strongly. " _ **I**_ will go help her and you can stay here and work on getting yourself better."

"Aw, seriously!" Goku whined childishly. "But I wanna fight too!"

"…. Weren't you just complaining a couple minutes ago about how you _didn't_ want to be a simple character that just loves fighting?"

"…. I guess is could stay here for a little while. Get a little rest, you know. Gotta play it smart."

Sakura turned away from him, smirking in a victorious sort of way without him seeing, and turned her attention towards the sky once more. Yoshika was doing an impressive job holding her own against the swarm of black planes, even managed to take out two more in the time they had been talking. But she was clearly outnumbered and was doing everything in her power to dodge their lasers. Sakura reached into her pocket and tapped into the power of one of her Sakura cards without looking at it, already knowing them by instinct at this point. Pink feathery wings once again sprouted from her back and the little Cardcaptor launched herself into the sky with a strong flap, creating a small gust of wind that knocked Goku flat on his back.

Up in the air, Yoshika spiraled out of the way of another volley of laser fire from the unknown enemy when one of the shots scraped the surface of her left shoulder, burning a hole in her shirt and leaving a slight burn on her skin. Yoshika winced, but pushed the brief pain aside and spun around, shooting wildly at the black plane swarm. Most of them scattered, but she did manage to clip the wings of one enemy, sending it crashing to the ground. The black planes started to converge on her point again; there was still well over two dozen of them. One of the dark automatons broke rank and started to come at her from the side, but Yoshika spotted it immediately out of the corner of her eye and spun around with her gun outstretched. She pulled the trigger…and her firearm made hollow _**click, click**_ noise. Yoshika's face flushed in horror.

"No, no, no, no!" Yoshika squeaked. "You can't jam on me now!"

Yoshika smacked the side of her rifle, somehow thinking that it would just start working like that. The enemy was getting closer; their red plates were starting to glow with energy. Giving up on her main gun, she threw the weapon over her shoulder and reached for his sidearm. But by the time she had managed to draw Mauser, the black plane had just finished charging and –

" **The Sword!** "

A blur of pink shot at the black plane from the underside and smashed its way through the metal plating, making a clean circular hole from which broken parts were scattered into the air. Yoshika stared, her mouth dropped in awe, as the pink-feathered angel that had come to her rescue. Sakura flapped her wings again to gain greater height over the machine, wielding a winged rapier that replaced her Sealing Wand. She shot forward at the machine again, her sword flashing silver as flew past; the unknown enemy was cut clean down the middle and both parts fell back to the earth. Yoshika couldn't fight back the shuddering gasp of astonishment while Sakura flew over to her.

"That was incredible!" said Yoshika, mouth still agape with sparkles in her eyes. "You were so fast! And amazing! And the way you destroyed the Neuroi like 'swoosh!' and 'pow!' and 'fwapah!'"

"I'm pretty sure that last one isn't a sound effect," said Sakura, laughing while sweat dropping.

"Oh," Yoshika suddenly gasped as if she just realized something and saluted diligently. "Sergeant Yoshika Miyafuji at your service, ma'am!"

"Sakura kinomoto," Sakura introduced herself offhandedly; she was watching the black planes that were surrounding them.

"Eh! You're _the_ Sakura-san!" Yoshika gasped again, immediately dropping all pretense of formality. "You're a super famous magical girl, right! One of the first ones? Nanoha-san was talking about you a couple hours ago when we were talking about recruiting help! Can I have your autograph?"

"Nanoha-chan?" said Sakura, sounding surprised. "You met Nanoha-chan? What do you mean you were recruit – WATCH OUT!"

She grabbed Yoshika by the shoulders, dragging her out of the way of the oncoming laser fire from the Neuroi planes coming at them from below. But Sakura's wings were faster, nimbler, and magic-infused; she and Yoshika flew a great distance away from the Neuroi in the blink of an eye. Once out of their line of fire, Sakura let go of Yoshika and spun around with her rapier raised; Yoshika, unfortunately, was sent spiraling through the air, getting very, _very_ dizzy from the constant rotations. The Strike Witch eventually managed to stop and straighten herself after a few seconds, groaning sluggishly and holding a hand to her mouth to stop herself from heaving. Yoshika shook her head clear and looked back at the fight in front of her.

Sakura moved with the grace of the angel she embodied. She shot back and forth between the Neuroi with great flaps of her feathery wings, crossing great distances in moments, her rapier gleaming in the sunlight with every swing. Yoshika could help staring in awe. So this was the power of a veteran magical girl. Sakura was working her way through the Neuroi without breaking a sweat!

Sakura sliced the rotors off one of the bigger Neuroi planes and cut the empennage a second afterwards to render it incapable of flight. Then she moved on to the two Neuroi fighter planes that were diving down on her, shooting all of their lasers at once. Sakura effortlessly weaved through the shower of lasers and began to swing in a spiraling motion as she approached them, slicing them on the sides with multiple cuts that somehow destroyed their engines and sent them hurtling towards the ground. The Cardcaptor hovered over the battlefield for a brief second, taking a count of how many of the Neuroi she had destroyed, when a silent Neuroi cautiously floats in the air behind Sakura, going largely unnoticed by the magical girl. Yoshika, however, managed to spot it.

"Sakura-san, behind you!" Yoshika screamed.

"Huh?" Sakura muttered, perking up in bewilderment.

The Neuroi seemed to know that it's cover had been blown. It charges up its lasers as Sakura begins to turn around, spotting the unknown enemy over her shoulder. Just as it was about to discharge, Yoshika suddenly flies in between them with her sidearm in hand and shoots the Neuroi pointblank in the front. A large, gaping hole puffed out gray smoke from where its nose had once been, hovering momentarily, and then began to fall back to the earth. Yoshika let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as she holstered her sidearm and spun around to Sakura, who looked equally relieved.

"Thanks for the backup," said Sakura gratefully.

"No problem," said Yoshika as she swung her rifle around and started smacking it again. "Us magical girls need to stick together."

"Well, there's still a lot of those…things left," said Sakura, watching the Neuroi scatter around them. "We should finish them off quickly before more start showing up. Then afterwards, I want to talk to you about Nanoha-chan."

Yoshika smacked her rifle a few more times until she heard the satisfying _click,_ then said eagerly, "Ready when you are, Sakura-san!"

And not a second too soon, Sakura thought, when the Neuroi started converging on their location in a spiraling formation, shooting them with a volley of red laser fire. Sakura and Yoshika easily dived out of their range, being smaller and nimbler than their enemies.

Sakura flapped her wings once to go higher, soaring above the lasers, gripping The Sword in a practiced thrusting stance in one hand while her other slipped inside her pocket. Just like many times before, Sakura didn't need to see the card when she tapped it with two fingers and released the magic sealed inside. She called out the card's name (" **The Dash!** ") and suddenly shot across the air so fast that she it had seemed like she had become invisible. The only indication that she was still around was the large, human-sized holes that abruptly appeared in several of the Neuroi airships until they exploded into fiery scrap; Sakura reappeared with her back to the explosion, but cause cool magical girls don't look back at explosions…. But she did look back when several surviving Neuroi flew out of the explosion and started shooting her with lasers. Sakura yelped when one of the shots came close to her head and dropped into a dive, the Neuori immediately giving chase.

Sakura spiraled out of the way of another volley of oncoming laser fire and curved around, hoping it would throw them off, but the Neuroi remained close on her tail. She couldn't use the dash card again because it needed time to recharge its magic. Sakura started reaching into her pocket for another card that could help – maybe Windy, or even Fiery. But before she could make a selection, one of the Neuroi leading the flock behind her suddenly exploded and sent crashing towards the ground, causing the other Neuroi to instinctively scatter. Sakura spun around and looked up, barely catching as glimpse of Yoshika before she flew by.

Yoshika soared close behind one of the fleeing Neuroi until she was hover directly above it. She shot a straight line of bullets across one of its wings until the part snapped off and the Neuroi curved out of control towards the ground. As she watched the dark machine crash into a fiery explosion, a volley of red lasers sprayed the air around her, most of the shots missing, but one did manage to clip her shoulder again, in the exact same spot as when the fighting started. Yoshika flipped around in a semi-somersault and tilted her head backwards, spotting the two Neuroi _trying_ to shoot her down, but missing by wide margins – it's a wonder how they ever became a threat with their sucky aim, Yoshika thought.

The Strike Witch kicked her legs up and propelled herself backwards, flying straight into the eye of the storm so to speak. There were a few close calls, but Yoshika had become confident in her flying skill and successfully swerved through the hailstorm of lasers until she was flying directly between them. With both her rifle and her side arm held in either direction, Yoshika unloaded what seemed to be her entire clip into the sides of the Neuroi as they passed each other, make a clean line of bullet holes from the nose to the tail. The Neuroi's engine sputtered to a stop, their red glow fading, and slowly hurdled forward toward the ground as Yoshika flipped upright again, unloading her empty magazines dramatically. She smiled and giggled excitedly.

" _I bet Sakura-san thinks I'm so cool_ ," Yoshika thought giddily and she loaded new magazines into her guns. " _Maybe she'll ask for_ my _autograph when she sees me take out all the Neuroi by myself –_ "

" **THE THUNDER!** "

Yoshika's train of thought derailed when, completely out of nowhere, an earthshattering crack tore through the sky and a bright flash of light all by exploded behind her. Her expression was practically frozen; Yoshika slowly craned her head sideways and glanced over her shoulder. She only caught a glimpse of several bolts of lightning coming down from the cloudless sky, piercing every Neuroi that remained in the air, before it faded away like it had never been there. The Neuroi didn't even explode – they just hover around the air for a few short second and then began dropping like a pile of dead weights. With the sky now clear of the enemy, Yoshika could see Sakura standing alone, her wings fluttering lightly, with a single card raised above her head. Is she didn't have propellers on her feet, Yoshika was sure she would have dropped out like the Neuroi.

Sakura slipped the card back into her pocket and flew over to Yoshika, whose was still frozen in place.

"It probably would have been easier to do that from the beginning," said Sakura, stopping next to Yoshika. "But the Thunder card can sometimes attack indiscriminately, so I didn't want to risk you getting hurt."

"Oh, uh, thank you," said Yoshika, chuckling nervously. "That was uh…that was pretty epic…the way you beat them all by yourself. I mean, it was super awesome. Just what you would expect from one of the greatest magical girls of all time."

"I wouldn't say that," said Sakura, blushing embarrassingly. Then she saw the burn mark on Yoshika's shoulder and gasped. "Oh no, Yoshika-san, you're hurt!"

"Oh, this?" said Yoshika, looking at the wound casually. "It's all right. I can fix it up pretty quickly. Look."

She reached up and covered the burn with her hands; her palm started to glow with an ethereal green light. After a few seconds, Yoshika pulled her hand away and revealed that her burn mark was completely gone, even then skin looked brand new. This time, it was Sakura who let out an awe-inspiring gasp.

"You can use healing magic!" Sakura shouted in surprise.

"It's my special ability," said Yoshika proudly. "I can heal almost anything from scratches and bruises to even lethal diseases. I guess it makes sense that I would have the power to heal people since I don't like fighting, even if it is necessary. I think that's why Nanoha-san wanted me in her unit."

"Oh, that's right, Nanoha-chan," said Sakura, perking up in realization. "I almost completely forgot! You said that Nanoha-chan was recruiting people. What did you mean by that."

"Well…I don't exactly know the whole story," said Yoshika earnestly, crossing her arms and humming thoughtfully. "A little while ago, Nanoha-san just showed up out of base and said she was recruiting all the military animes. She had already called the Fleet Girls and the Panzer Girls when she dropped by. She was trying to put together an army to fight back against this Mirai person. To be honest, I didn't know what she was talking about half the time – she said Mirai's army blew up some place…uh, oh, shoot, what was it? ...The uh…world tournament thingy."

"The World Martial Arts Tournament," Sakura corrected her. "Then that means Nanoha-chan still has her memories. I guess that makes sense – Clow Reed did say the Intelligence Device protect people."

"We were all supposed attack their flagship together, but then all these attacks popped up all over the continent," Yoshika continued. "Neuroi, Abyssal, Forgeries – they're attacking us from all levels. And then people started disappearing like the Fairy Tail Guild. Nanoha-san told us to spread out and take care of all the enemies. I was part of the squadron headed to the Soul Society…. But I got lost," she added sheepishly.

"What happened to Nanoha-chan?" Sakura asked in concern.

"I think she went after the flagship by herself," said Yoshika.

"WHAT?!" Sakura screamed in fright, nearly spooking Yoshika out of the air. "What was she thinking? No, wait, I know exactly what she was thinking. She was thinking about buying time so that the rest of the forces would catch up with her. Ooh, sometimes I hate that hero complex of hers!"

"So…," said Yoshika, nervously tapping her fingers, edging away from Sakura. "Are we gonna do something, or…."

"Well, of course we're going to do something – we're heroes," said Sakura, giving her a strange look. "We need to go make sure that Nanoha-chan is all right. Oh, but we should probably make sure that Goku is all right. He was hurt pretty bad a while ago. Hey, maybe you can use your healing magic to fix him up." She added brightly.

"So this Goku guy," said Yoshika, who was, for some reason, looking above Sakura's head. "Is he tall, thin, and look like a creepy version of the Wii Fit character?"

"What, no?" said Sakura, looking at her bewildered. "Why would you think that?"

The Strike Witch pointed a single digit to the area above Sakura. Her brow raised in confusion, the Carcaptor spun around and nearly fell out of the sky as well. There, floating directly behind her, was humanoid was made entirely of a blinding white energy that lacked any features other than the two black holes that represented its eyes. Sakura recognized him in a heartbeat; she had never seen him in person, be she had seen him on TV –

"Mirai!" Sakura cried.

She started swinging The Sword when Mirai slapped the back of his – surprisingly solid – hand against her wrist, knocking the weapon out of her grip; the Sword reverted back to the Sealing Wand as it twirled toward the ground. Sakura didn't know what to do next and was left wide open, giving Mirai the chance to reach out and wrap his strong fingers around her throat. Sakura choked; she kicked her legs wildly and pulled at his arm, but Mirai's grip was like a vice.

"Sakura-san!" Yoshika cried.

The Strike Witch threw her rifle over her shoulder – she wasn't going to risk hitting Sakura with a machine gun – and drew her Mauser to his face. But just as she pulled the trigger, Mirai suddenly clapped his free hand over the muzzle, muffling the shot; gun smoke wafting between his fingers. Yoshika was taken aback; she had never heard of anyone stopping a bullet at point-blank range with just their hand…. Then again, she didn't watch many anime other than military themed. And while Yoshika was temporarily stunned, Mirai ripped the sidearm out of her hand and them back handed her. Yoshika was thrown into a spiraling free fall until she hit the ground directly below them, creating a small dust cloud.

"Yo…shi…ka…san...," Sakura gasped.

"You called me by my name," said Mirai, grabbing the Cardcaptor forcefully by her chin and making her turn his way. "I never met you before until now…. You're one of those deviants, aren't you? There have been several magical girls thus far who have been immune to the effects of the Retcon Bombs. But not all of them. What makes you so special? Tell me!"

Sakura kept her mouth shut; whether it was because she was being defiant or couldn't breathe was anyone's guess.

Down on the ground, pushed herself up to her elbows, spitting out the dirt that had gotten into her mouth, and flipped around on her back. She could see Mirai floated directly above her, holding Sakura at arm's length, her struggling becoming less and less.

"Sakura-san…," Yoshika groaned, slowly starting to sit up when –

"Wait," a strong hand wrapped around her bicep, making Yoshika spin around to see who was lurking in the tall grass. It was Goku, wincing as he held a hand over his frozen bruise. "Wait…. I'll save her…. But first…I'm gonna need your help…."

And, back up in the air, Mirai released his grip around Sakura's neck and instead held her up by the nape of her dress; he couldn't afford to have her killed just yet.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet," said Mirai. "I want to know how you are immune to the Retcon Bomb's energy. The scientists back at the research facility will take care of it. If they can manufacture thousands of Forgeries from a single girl, they should be able to understand how your magic works. So stop struggling you little – "

"MIRAI!" a furious roar echoed across the plains, making the enigmatic leader tremble slightly.

Sakura barely saw what happened: one moment she was being dangled like a ragdoll, then the next, she hears a loud _**clang**_ noise and suddenly started dropping. She didn't fall very far because a strong arm wrapped around her waist a mere second later, keeping her suspended in the air. The Cardcaptor blinked owlishly. Mirai hovered a couple yards away, holding the side of his head and leering in her direction. She then looked up and saw, to her relief and astonishment, Goku smiling down on her with his typical carefree grin.

"Goku, what are you doing? Your injured – "

But Sakura cut herself off when she got a second look at him. His body was completely healed. Every scratch, scrape, and tear were gone; the massive swollen bruise that had dominated his left side had been completely removed as if it were never there. Goku smiled wider when he saw Sakura's dumbfounded expression.

"You're all healed up," Sakura muttered amazingly. "But how did – " And as if answering her question, Sakura heard the flapping of propellers and looked to the side at the proud-looking Strike Witch floating next to her. "Yoshika-san? You fixed Goku that fast? That's amazing!"

"Hehe!" Yoshika giggled bashfully. "Thanks."

"It's over, Mirai!" Goku told him. "You're outnumber and outmatched! Stop what your doing and give up before you go too far!"

"That didn't work with Frieza and that's not going to work on me," said Mirai tonelessly, still holding the side of his head. "You think you can just beat me up and make all your problems disappear? No, you can't. I've already set a bigger game in motion. Even if I fall, there still many others who could easily take my place. Our invasion will not end until every last one of you is forgotten."

"But why?" asked Yoshika. "Why do you want everyone to forget us?"

"Killing you isn't enough," said Mirai. "As long as the people in the real world still remember you, they will keep finding ways to bring you back. No…the only _real_ way of dying in this world is by being forgotten completely…. And you _will_ be forgotten…because of me…."

"That's not going to happen," said Goku, taking a defensive stance with one arm while holding Sakura in the other. "We'll fight you."

"Oh, I certainly hope so," said Mirai. "But not yet…. I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row so to speak before I give you what you properly deserve. So for now…we'll have to postpone this for another time."

"You won't get away – "Goku started.

But before any of them could make the next move, Mirai exploded into a flash of white-hot light. Goku, Sakura, and Yoshika screwed their eyes up and blocked the radiance with their arms, but the flash was so bright that they could still see it clearly through their eyelids; Sakura could actually feel her retina starting to hurt. Thankfully, the flare ended just as quickly as it began. One by one, the heroes started opening their eyes, blinking the colorful spots out of their vision; Yoshika forcefully rubbed her eyes with her hands. Their vision was blurred momentarily but started to refocus after a few seconds. And when their eyes were finally working properly again, they could see the clear crystal sky around that…one completely devoid of Mirai. Goku and Sakura looked around hastily, but the enigmatic leader was nowhere to be seen. Goku cursed.

"Damn it," he hissed angrily. "We let him get away."

"It's not your fault," said Sakura soothingly. "He caught us all by surprise. We'll be prepared next time."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Goku grumbled. He started clenching and unclenching his hand. "I just wish I had gotten a better hit on that guy. It was weird. Felt like I was punching a steel wall, only stronger. And did you hear that clinging noise he made when I hit him? It felt kinda familiar, but I can't remember where."

"We'll have to worry about that later," said Sakura, humming thoughtfully. "Right now, we need to think about our next move. We were planning to go to Luna Nova to get you healed, but Yoshika-san already took care of that…. I really don't know what to do next."

"Um…if I could make a suggestion," Yoshika spoke up timidly; she wasn't sure if she had the credibility to be talking to two veterans. "Why don't we go after their flagship. I have the coordinates from when Nanoha-san was planning the attack. Its route was heading over Japari Park; Nanoha-san thought it might be rendezvousing with some of their friends – er, allies."

"Well, attacking their ship _would_ get Mirai's attention," said Sakura, tapping her chin in thought. "And who know? Maybe we'll get lucky and run into Nanoha-chan? I'd really feel better knowing we had someone like her making all the plans instead of us. I'm not much of a leader and Goku is…Goku."

"Aw, shucks," said Goku, scratching the back of his head embarrassingly, completely missing the subtle insult.

"Yosh!" Yoshika cheered, pumping her fists. "I have the coordinates all set up! Follow me!... if you don't mind, of course."

Goku laughed and Sakura giggled; Yoshika was so sweet and adorable the way she was nervous around two veterans.

Spinning around in the air, Yoshika led the way with Goku and Sakura following closely behind…. Five minutes later, they turned around and started flying back. They had forgotten Sakura's Sealing Wand,

"Let's not mention this to anyone, okay?" said Sakura embarrassingly.

* * *

 **[Yoshika Miyafuji has joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **And don't forget to go to the poll on my profile page. Your votes will determine how the Contest of Champions turn out.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	7. The Devil Wears White

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Seven: The Devil Wears White**

* * *

Deep in the Japari Park, the Kemono Friends were on edge. The rumblings of the jungle had stretched far across the land and rumors and hearsay spread like wildfire. Word had reached to the Friends that everyone should avoid any humans they find, for they had brought the violence of their own animes to their once peaceful land. The Friends tensed up at the slightest noise and many flocked together in great numbers as if their size would ward off any trespassers. Even the Serval, which were known to only wander the Savannah lands, had sought shelter in the trees. The Serval had been pacing through the trees, looking for its next meal, when she heard a sharp rustling coming from the nearby brush and dashed away just before two humans came running through.

Midoriya touched the ground briefly before he kicked off into the air again, crossing his arms to protect his face as he smashed his way through the branches. Midoriya knew he was leaving a trail for the villains to follow, but he needed to get to the lake as soon as possible. All Might's last words were still ringing in his ears…. Someone was waiting there, someone more powerful than the number one hero…. Midoriya kicked off the ground again and shouldered his way through the thick trunks of the trees in front of him, apologizing to the Friends in his way….

Meanwhile, Bakugo was clinging to his rival's back with all his strength, fighting back the urge to vomit as Midoriya went faster and faster, pushing the limits of his ability, and making the world pass by in a giant blur of color. He could feel ther bile crawling up his throat…. Bakugo swallowed it back down and groaned dryly. Gritting his teeth, Bakugo glared at the back of Midoriya's head and then, without warning, suddenly grabbed the green-haired boy by the back of his head and lurched forward –

"Just stop already, you skinny bastard!" roared Bakugo.

Midoriya let out a surprised yelp when he felt Bakugo's fingers wrap around the back of his skull and was suddenly pushed to the ground, his face hitting the dirt before anything else, and was carried by the momentum he had created. He must have slid across the ground by a couple dozen feet, because Midoriya spent a whole minute with his face sliding against the ground, getting mud and dirt in his eyes, nostrils, and mouth. They came to a stop when they burst through a thick set of bushes that opened up into a vast lake with water that was almost as clear as crystal, twinkling from the rays of the sun.

Midoriya felt Bakugo climb off and walk away; he pulled his face out of the dirt, spitting out the grime on his tongue with a shuddering groan. He stood up, dusted himself off, and turned around to Bakugo, who was on his hands and knees at the edge of the lake, his head hanging forward and making a lot of retching noises. Midoriya automatically felt guilt; he didn't his version of One for All was that fast, especially compared to All Might, but then again, Midoriya couldn't really remember a time when Bakugo had carried at superhuman speed.

He walked over to Bakugo as he heaves another puddle of sick on the ground and rubbed his back helpfully. Bakugo didn't appreciate the gesture; he threw out his arm and set off an explosion in the air next to Midoriya's head, which the green-haired boy suspected would not have missed if Bakugo hadn't been so nauseated.

"Don't…don't touch me…you ba…you ba…. Ugh…," Bakugo groaned, leaning forward and holding his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Kachan," Midoriya apologized. "I didn't know you were – "

"Don't!" Bakugo hissed, jumping up and getting in close to Midoriya's face. "Say! Another! Word!" He grabbed the green-haired boy by the collar, lifting him a couple inches off the ground. "If you ever pull a stunt like that again without my permission, I will turn you into ash! Do I make myself clear?"

Midoriya nodded very quickly. Bakugo huffed, shoved him back, and walked away.

"I was only trying to help….," Midoriya muttered silently.

Bakugo approached the edge of the lake, stopping just short of the water, his hands on his hip as he looked around with a critical eye. He was silent for a long before until he said, "Is this the place? The one that All Might was talking about? I don't see anyone else here."

"Yeah, this is the spot," said Midoriya, walking over to stand beside him. "All Might said there would be someone here that could help us. Someone stronger than him."

"After we got out asses handed to us by the scrawny midget," said Bakugo, gritting his teeth, "I wouldn't complain about getting a little help for a change. But I don't see anything here that could help. Just a lot of water, some trees, that weird animal people hiding in the bushes, a giant black rock, some fish – "

"Wait, giant black rock?" asked Midoriya, looking up in surprise.

Bakugo rolled his eyes, groaning, and pointed lazily off to the left. Midoriya leaned around and spotted the gigantic black meteor resting on the edge of the shoreline, the waves of the lake lapping against its surface. It was largely out of place with everything else in the Park. Maybe it had something to do with the person All Might had they look for?

Midoriya walked over to the black rock, leaving Bakugo to stew in his annoyance, when the ground suddenly rumbled beneath their feet. Both heroes-in-training stopped moving, automatically dropping into ready positions on pure instinct. There was a brief moment of pause before the ground rumbled again and Midoriya noticed a ripple in the lake. He narrowed his eyes, focusing his sight on the middle of the water where bubbles were starting to appear on the surface. He continued to watch in thoughtful silence until the lake exploded and something massive emerged from the depths.

Midoriya fell back on his butt, shrieking from a combination of disbelief and terror. The beast that arose looked like a combination of both monster and machine. An evil-looking dragon with a serpentine lower body, but a masculine upper body covered entirely in metallic plates of blood-red and pale-white with golden accents. Tattered, fiery-orange wings sprouted from its back and bore a triangular biohazard symbol on its chest. The Evil dragon flexed its claws, it's piercing-red eyes scanning the shoreline for pray when its gaze fell upon Midoriya, who was crawling backwards away from the monster. The young wielder of One for All had scooted all the way back to the bushes when he overheard the Friends hiding in the trees muttering to each other.

"It's Megidramon! He's awake! Who woke him up?"

"It must have been the humans."

"Should we help them?"

"They caused this mess, they can live with the consequences!"

So the monster's name was Megidramon, thought Midoriya. That name seemed familiar to him somehow. Of course, he didn't have much time to think about it when the evil dragon reared its head with a terrifying roar that literally made the earth tremble – and tilted the black meteor slightly to the side, exposing a glove hand underneath. Midoriya's mind was screaming for him to move, to run away, but Megidramon's presence had him petrified in place. As flames began to coat the evil dragon's lips, Midoriya was only slightly aware of Bakugo's panicked screams.

"Deku! Move your ass, damn it!" shouted Bakugo, running as fast he could to his rival's aid, but he didn't get far before Megidramon unleashed a hellstorm of flames on them both.

There was a long moment before the flames washed over them where Midoriya could only think about how he had failed them, Kachan and All Might both. He was chosen to be All Might's successor and he still froze up when it mattered most. Feeling shaming and anguish, Midoriya closed his eyes at the same time as Bakugo reached his side, grabbing his arm, waiting for the flames to burn them to ash –

Midoriya's eyes quickly snapped open again when a thunderous _**crack**_ rang from the side and turned his head so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. The shards of the black meteor were thrown every which way, as if it had exploded from the inside, and someone dashed through the debris at such speed that they only looked like a white blur. The strange being crossed the shore in a split-second, making Iida look like a snail by comparison, and stopped directly between the heroes-in-training and Megidramon's flames. Whoever it was raised their right hand, palm up to the fire, and feminine, mechanical-sound voice called out, " **Round Sheid!** "

A glyph of pink energy appeared in front of the newcomer, pushing Megidramon's flames around them until the evil dragon ran out of steam. When Megidramon paused to catch its breath, the strange held up their hand again, the mechanical voice shouted, " **Divine Shooter!** " and eight balls of pink energy formed around their wrist, shooting across the air at blinding speeds. The bullets curved around Megirdamon's outstretched arm and wailed on the dragon's chest and face, knocking the monster around until it fell back into the water. Midoriya watched the battle in awe, then turned to the stranger that had saved them both as they turned around.

The newcomer was a young woman, possibly only just reaching her twenties, with light-auburn hair tied into two sidetails by white ribbons. The main theme of her costume was blue-and-white – a short jacket stuffed with extra padding around the arms ending in armored cuffs and a big red ribbon in the middle, a short dress with a length cape straps to her waist, and metal-plated shoes with white stockings. Gripped in her left hand was a long pink staff that was topped by a golden headpiece with a ruby jewel in the middle. The woman looked at Midoriya and Bakugo, sharing an expression that was both serious and concerned.

"Are you two all right?" she asked.

 **NANOHA TAKAMACHI (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS)**

"Uh…y-yeah, we're fine," Midoriya stuttered, feeling his face suddenly heat up. He couldn't help noticing that she was awfully pretty….

"No thanks to this dumbass!" snapped Bakugo, beating Midoriya over the head with his knuckles.

"Ow!" Midoriya whined, rubbing the spot. "You don't have to be so violent, Kachan…."

"The hell I don't!" yelled Bakugo. "We fight villains all the time! How could you just freeze up like that?"

"Uh…."

"You can argue about that later," said Nanoha, returning her attention to the lake. "First, we have to handle him – "

For Megidramon rose from the lake with a thunderous splash, unfurling its wings and leaping into the air. The evil dragon landing heavily on the shore just down the way from them; Nanoha immediately stepped over and stood between it and the heroes-in-training. Bakugo's fingers crackled with many miniature explosions and Midoriya clenched his fists as the green lightning covered his body again. Nanoha glanced back at both of them out of the corner of her eye, frowning.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," said Nanoha warningly. "You don't have the level of experience needed to take on a Mega-Level Digimon. Just stay back and follow my instructions – "

"Like hell I'm gonna take orders from you!" Bakugo snapped. "Just stay out of my way – "

Nanoha turned around sharply on her heel toward him, staring down Bakugo with a piercing stare with wide, unblinking eyes, a shadow casting over her face to give her an extra menacing look. For some reason, both Bakugo and Midoriya felt the sudden urge to straighten their posture, arms at their sides, standing at attention like soldiers waiting for instructions from a drill sergeant. Bakugo made an audible gulping noise; not even Aizawa could command that kind of authority.

"I said…follow my instructions…,"Nanoha spoke in a low, threatening tone. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Midoriya and Bakugo answered in unison, suddenly saluting her without realizing it.

Nanoha's darkened expression immediately brightened up with an amused giggle; Midoriya and Bakugo slumped over, free from whatever authoritative control she had over them.

Megidrmon reminded them that it was still present by bellowing an earth-rumbling roar, spreading its wings and gliding across the shoreline towards them with its claws poised to slice them. Nanoha snapped her focus back on the dragon and shouted a quick order to Midoriya and Bakugo ("JUMP!") before leaping into the air herself. Midoriya effortlessly jumped over the dragon using One for All to boost the strength in his legs while Bakugo unleashed a powerful explosion below himself, propelling him into the air just as Megidramon took a swing at them. The young hero-in-training landed safely on the other side, but Nanoha hovered loftily in the air, unsupported. Midoriya couldn't resist staring at her open-mouthed; despite having an anime where everyone has superpowers, actual flight was incredibly rare.

The evil dragon folded its wings, spinning around on its serpentine tail, and paused for a moment. It seemed to be considering them. First, its eyes fell on Midroiya and Bakugo, two young heroes with incredible power, and then they roamed to Nanoha in the air, a woman with skill, tactics, and experience on her side. From Midoriya's point of view, it seemed to be thinking which of them was the greater threat; perhaps it was more intelligent than they were giving it credit for. Finally, it seemed to make a decision and charge towards Nanoha, flapping its wings to become airborne.

Nanoha flipped backwards as Megidramon swooped by, then took off in the direction of the forest with the evil dragon in hot pursuit. As she flew directly into the forest canopy, Nanoha held out her right hand and formed another barrier ahead of herself, creating a pseudo-battering ram to smash through the branches; Megidramon plowed his way straight through the trees. Midoriya and Bakugo couldn't see what was happening in the forest after that, but the sounds of pure destruction mixed in with the shouts of fleeing Kemono Friends painted a very vivid picture. They occasionally saw entire trees being tossed in the air, columns of flames rising at angles, and the glow of pink magic in the air. There was an intense battle going on in the forest and neither of them were there to see it.

Bakugo clenched his fists, growling in frustration.

"This is un-freakin'-believable!" spat Bakugo. "Why the hell are we being sidelined? We should be doing something, not standing around like a couple of idiots!"

"She told us to stay back and follow her instructions…," Midoriya muttered softly.

"Why the hell are we even listening to her?" Bakugo snapped. "Some random woman just shows up completely out of nowhere and starts bossing us around? No way in hell!"

"But All Might sent us here, right?" said Midoriya, catching Bakugo by the arm before he could walk off. "He told us to come to the lake because there was someone who could help us. Maybe All Might was talking about her? And if All Might trusts her enough to help, then I'm gonna trust her too. Don't you think so, Kachan?"

Bakugo clicked his tongue irritably and said, "Yeah, fine, whatever. Only because All Might said so. But if that chick things I'm just gonna sit around on my ass waiting for her, she's got another thing coming – "

Despite all his big talk, the explosive quirk user still let out a frightened squeak when a beam of pink energy shot through the trees, carving a charred line in the grass between them. Midoriya wisely kept his mouth shut when Bakugo coughed in his hand, trying to compose himself as if nothing happened, though Midoriya's stomach felt like it was going to burst. Then, completely out of nowhere, Midoriya suddenly felt a tingling sensation in the back of his head that made him shudder, and judging by Bakugo's startled expression, he felt the same thing.

" _Can you hear me? Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, am I coming in loud and clear?_ "

It was Nanoha. Her voice was ringing his mind. She has telepathy, Midoriya thought, on top of her other powers. No wonder All Might trusted her –

" _Hello? Are you there?_ "

"Uh, we're here…ma'am!" Midoriya yelled, not knowing how two-way telepathy worked. "Wait, how did you know our names?"

" _All Might told me you were coming before he disconnected, but that's not important,_ " said Nanoha urgently. There was a lot of frustrated grunting on the other end, and a wide pink beam could be seen off in the distance. " _I've done a lot of damage to its armor, but Megidramon is still fighting at full power. He must have been augmented by Mirai's forces. I need you both to do something for me._ "

"It's about time we did something other than sit on our asses!" shouted Bakugo, punching his fists into his hand. "Whaddya need us to do?"

" _Don't worry, you're going to love this, Bakugo,_ " said Nanoha. " _I'm going to be leading Megidramon back to the lake. Bakugo, when I fly past, you will release your most powerful explosion right in Megidramon's face. It won't hurt him, but it should break off its remaining armor. When that happens, Midoriya, I need you to give me your strongest Smash with One for All and knock Megidramon to the ground. Aim for its jaw – that it's likely to be its weakest point. After that, I will finish it with a concentrated strike from above._ "

"What? Why do you get to hog all the glory?" Bakugo complained.

" _Do you have a problem with my tactics, Bakugo_ ," Nanoha said in a low, menacing tone. " _If you do, speak up._ "

"Ma'am, no, ma'am!" Midoriya and Bakugo yipped, automatically standing at attention and saluting.

" _I'll be over there momentarily,_ " said Nanoha. " _Get ready._ "

"Man…," Midoriya let out a troubled sigh. "How can someone that cute be so scary?"

" _I am a military instructor and a mother,_ " said Nanoha. " _Thanks for the compliment, by the way._ "

Midoriya screamed and covered his reddening face in embarrassment; he didn't realize they were still connected.

Deep in the forest, they could hear the rumbling of the battle getting closer and closer; the snapping of the trees and the fleeing Friends were strong indicators. Bakugo marched over to the edge of the tree line, holding his right fist in front so that the opening his grenade bracer was pointed into the forest. A hidden mechanism in the gauntlet revealed a small pin in the handle, which Bakugo cautiously looped his finger around, but didn't pull. Midoriya stood directly behind Bakugo by several feet, bracing his feet into the ground as he covered himself with One for All's energy, green lightning arcing off his skin. He clenched his fist so tightly that his fingers started to hurt – he might be unconsciously using too much power because of his anxiety.

The rumbling was almost upon them; Midoriya could see entire trees being tossed into the air and a narrow column of flames burst through the canopy above their heads. But neither of them moved; Bakugo and Midoriya firmly held their ground despite the slight shaking in their hands.

"Almost…," Midoriya muttered. "Just a little longer…."

"Shut the hell up, Deku!" Bakugo snapped. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

"S-s-sorry!" Midoriya apologized.

The heroes-in-training started deeply into the darkness of the trees, waiting for their moment…. And then, not even a moment later, Nanoha came bursting through the brush like a speeding bullet, surrounded by a cocoon of pink energy. Megidramon thrashed his way onto the lakeshore a few seconds later, rearing with a furious roar; nearly all of its plated armor was covered in a spiderweb pattern of cracks and scars. As she flew over Bakugo's head, Nanoha craned her head down at him and shouted, "NOW!"

"Burn in hell, bastard!" screamed Bakugo, and he pulled the pin.

A geyser of furious flames spewed forth from the gap in Bakugo's gauntlets, spraying Megidramon's face with intense heat. There was a lot more power behind the blast than Nanoha had anticipated as it not only covered Megidramon's whole body, but set the surrounding forest aflame as well; Nanoha snuffed out the flames with energy bubbles before they got too far – She was definitely going to reprimand him for lack of control. But nonetheless, Bakugo's explosion did what it was meant to. Megidramon slithered its way past Bakugo, roaring and spitting furiously with its claws over its eyes, which had been charred black and its lids seemed melted together, while the remainder of its armor fell away from its body, revealing the squishy, pale-white flesh underneath.

The evil dragon flailed across the shoreline, whipping its barbed tail back and forth, cutting deep gouges into the ground, and blindly swiping one of its claws looking anyone to shred. Nanoha hovered just out of Megidramon's reach and Bakugo rolled out of the way when its tail came down on top of him. Bakugo looked like he wanted to yell something, but Nanoha telepathically told him, " _Don't say anything just yet_ " and Bakugo lip his lip. Megidramon was unknowingly slithering up to Midoriya, who crouched low to the ground with one fist clenched, waiting…and waiting…and waiting….until the evil dragon was directly above him.

Midoriya kicked off the ground immediately, breaking the earth beneath his boots, and launched himself at the underside of Megidramon's chin. His fist glowed with concentrated energy as he swung around, shouting:

" **Detroit Smash!"**

Midoriya's knuckles connected a solid blow with Megidramon's jaw, which created a shockwave of pressure that caused the surrounding trees to sway, knocked Bakugo on his butt, and almost blew Nanoha out of the air had she not pulled up a barrier in time. Megidramon was thrown a few feet in the air and toppled backwards on its back, its wings spread-eagle, and moaned painfully when the back of its head hit the ground. Though it had taken a heavy hit, Megidramon was slowly starting to rise again, albeit its limbs were rather shaky and it slipped more than once. But Nanoha floated above the evil dragon like a hawk eyeing its prey, pointing her staff at Megidramon as the crystal in the center started flashing and a mechanical voice sounded from it –

" **Exceed Mode!** "

Her staff's head momentarily disassembled and reconfigured itself in an instant, now taking the shape of a two-pronged golden spearhead with the ruby crystal embedded in the center. Nanoha twirled the staff in her hand and raised it above her head like a javelin thrower, using her right hand to aim at Megidramon, who had pushed itself up to its elbows by now. Evil dragon seemed to sense Nanoha's imminent attack because it suddenly snapped its head skyward, glaring blindly up at her. Megidramon opened its mouth, summoning the hellfire from within its chest –

"Not this time!" shouted Nanoha fiercely. " **Strike Flame!** "

Three semi-material mana blades formed at the tip and framed edges of Nanoha's weapon, giving it an even greater resemblance to a spear. With a grunt of effort, Nanoha lurched forward and threw the staff with all her might, unconsciously creating a shockwave when the spear left her fingers. Midoriya and Bakugo tried not to blink; Nanoha's weapon was moving so fast they were afraid they were going to miss it. Megidramon had just gathered the flames in its maw when Nanoha's staff flew directly into the dragon's open mouth. Less than half a second later, it exited through the back of Megirdramon's head and stabbed into the ground, smoking wafting from the otherwise undamaged spear.

Megidramon paused in place, as if seemingly frozen in time…. Then, much to Midoriya's surprise, the evil dragon began to disintegrate from the tail upwards. By the time Nanoha returned her feet to the ground, Megidramon had evaporated entirely. The inheritor of One for All stared in awe as Nanoha casually walked over and ripped her spear-staff out of the ground, twirling its once with her fingers to throw off the dirt before turning back to him and Bakugo.

"You both did a good job," Nanoha complimented them. "You followed my instructions and we came out as the winners. You see, _this_ what All Might should be teaching you: discipline."

"Did you…," Midoriya stuttered, pointing to the spot where Megidramon once was. "Did you just…kill him…?"

"Not exactly," said Nanoha lightly, shouldering her staff. "Megidramon was a Digimon – a monster made of data. They don't die. They are disassembled into data bits and then reconstituted somewhere else, though much weaker than they usually are. It will be reborn, but it won't be nearly as powerful as it once was." She looked at Midoriya, stared for a moment, then gave a sad smile. "Oh, right, I get why you were worried. People rarely die in your series. I think you only recently saw your first death in the manga. Don't worry, I don't kill people if I can help it," she added, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Grr…stop being such a wuss, Deku," Bakugo hissed in Midoriya's ear. "You're making us look bad in front of her…."

"I'm sorry, I was just…. Never mind," said Midoriya. Then he turned to Bakugo with his brow raised. "Wait, since when do you care what she thinks? Weren't you just complaining how you don't take want to take orders from her?"

"Well, yeah…," Bakugo muttered softly; there was a noticeable dusting of pink on his cheeks. "She did take out that monster pretty much on her own. I can respect that…."

"Oh my god, Kachan," said Midoriya, gaping at him. "You have a crush on her – "

"That's it, you're dead, you damn nerd!" Bakugo roared, pulled Midoriya by his collar and glaring darkly.

Nanoha giggled behind her hand and said, "Aw, I'm really flattered, Bakugo, but I already have a wife and daughter. Besides…I'm way out of your league, anyway."

Bakugo hanged his head in shameful defeat, having just been dealt a killing blow.

Nanoha laughed again alongside Midoriya, Bakugo glaring at both of them with gritted teeth, when Nanoha's laugh was suddenly cut short. The heroes-in-training looked at her strangely; Nanoha had dawned a very serious expression as she slowly lowered her staff at her side, gripping the shaft so tightly her knuckles popped. The White Devil slowly, cautiously, craned her head over her shoulder…and then suddenly swiped her staff in front of Midoriya's face, deflecting a narrow red beam that had been aimed between his eyes. Nanoha spun around as another red beam shot out of the trees, this time aimed for Bakugo, but Nanoha deflected this as well.

There was a short pause afterwards, as if whoever was shooting seemed to be considering them…. Then a shower of multiple beams bombarded the group of three in rapid fire. Nanoha held out her arms, forcing Midoriya and Bakugo to take cover behind her, and then began to swing her staff back and forth through the air in a blur of motion. Midoriya could stop him jaw from dropping in awe as Nanoha not only kept with the pace of the lasers, but perfectly deflected them with her staff so that they were all sent flying harmlessly into the air. It's no wonder All Might trusted her, Midoriya thought.

When the last of the beams were knocked away, Nanoha stood straight with her staff held parallel from her chest, narrowing her eyes into the trees. A slow clapping noise was ringing from the shadows alongside a mocking sort of chuckle. As the attacker stepped out into the sunlight, Midoriya and Bakugo immediately braced themselves for battle when Frieza's face came into view. Bakugo took a step forward, his hand crackling with mini explosions, but Nanoha threw out her hand to block him again. Her expression was rigid, staring down the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Universe. Frieza chuckled again with a wicked grin.

"My, my, that was impressive," said Frieza when he stopped clapping and folded his hands behind his back. "You're definitely a step up from the last human I oh-so elegantly put down."

"What'd you do to All Might, you bastard?" Bakugo screamed. Nanoha raised her staff in front of his face to deflect another shot.

"You should mind your tongue, little boy, the grown-ups are talking," said Frieza, his finger still smoking. He lowered his hand and turned to Nanoha. "As I was saying, you're definitely an improvement from that muscle-bound lummox I trampled less than an hour ago. Then, you are the great Captain Nanoha Takamachi, the Ace of Aces. Even I have heard of your accomplishments, and I don't usually watch magical girl animes."

"You never answered Bakugo's question," said Nanoha evenly. "What happened to All Might."

"Oh, relax, he's still alive," he said mockingly, taking pleasure in Mirodiya's fear and Bakugo's anger. "But for how long, that remains to be seen. I can only imagine what Miria has in store for that buffoon."

"So it's true," said Nanoha. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "You are working for Mirai. I never thought I'd see the day you started taking orders from someone else, Frieza."

"It's not so much as taking orders as it is working towards a common goal," said Freiza with a sinister smile. "Mirai presents a great opportunity. With the power of his Retcon Energy, I can not only erase my enemies, but I can permanently erase them from all existence. Imagine, the power to erase all hope for them universe, to wipe out the champions of so-called justice from all living memory. With that kind of power, I can make my rule over the universe absolute!"

"And what about the others?" asked Nanoha. "The Abyssal, Haruko Haruhara, Tomura Shiguraki, Nui Harime. Mirai collected an assortment of the worst villains from all over Animatia. Why? What is he planning?"

Frieza looked like he had been smacked across the face, his eyes going wider with each name that Nanoha counted off. When she had finished, they narrowed dangerously and a deep frown was etched on his face.

"Where did you learn all those names?" Frieza questioned with silent fury.

"I had a little help…," said Nanoha coolly. "Do you really think I could have gathered an army of military animes all by myself in such a short amount of time? We've been waiting for you for weeks."

Frieza began to gnash his teeth, saying, "So that's where the traitor ran off to. He knew he couldn't do it on his own, so he enlisted the help of someone who was not only resistant to the Retcon Energy, but also had experience in military command…. Any punishment I had planned for him will be a thousand times worse when I find him."

"Uh, Kachan," Midoriya whispered to Bakugo, "do you know what they're talking about?"

"How the hell should I know?" Bakugo hissed. "You're supposed to be the nerd, dammit!"

"Since you have this information at your disposal, I can't very well let you leave," said Frieza, taking a single step forward. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, but I will be taking you back to Mirai to see if we can't squeeze any information out of that big brain of yours and locate that traitor."

"Heh," Nanoha gave a short chuckle, surprising Frieza. "You're making a lot of assumptions before you even caught me. If you really wanna find out, then come at me. I'll even give you the first shot," she added, making a taunting hand gesture beckoning him.

Frieza didn't take the gesture very well. Not even considering that it might be a trap, the alien menace launched himself forward, shattering the ground underneath his feet, and was suddenly in front of Nanoha before Midoriya or Bakugo had realized he had moved. But Nanoha remained calm and unflinching. Frieza raised his fist and swung it around to land squarely between Nanoha's eyes…when his knuckles suddenly stopped just a few inches short of her face.

"What?" Frieza gasped.

Nanoha couldn't fight back the urge to smirk. Frieza was frozen in place, hovering off the ground, as five wheels of pink light suddenly appears around his wrists, ankles, and tail. The intergalactic tyrant struggled against the magical bindings with veins throbbing visibly on his temple as proof, but he couldn't break free. Nanoha took a few steps away from Frieza – Midoriya and Bakugo staying close behind her – and stretched her fingers, silently commanding the restraints to move so that Frieza was floating spread eagle.

" **Restrict Lock,** " said Nanoha. "It's my strongest binding spell, one that I always preset before each battle when dealing with stronger opponents. Something you'd know if you actually watched my anime."

"You smug little brat!" Frieza snarled. "You think this can hold me? I'll break out of these ridiculous restraints and crush you into a fine powder!"

Nanoha didn't verbally respond to the threat, but did take a few more steps back, pushing Midoriya and Bakugo further. Once they were within a safe distance, Nanoha pointed the tip of her staff directly at Frieza's chest. The crystal in the center flashed and the mechanical feminine voice cried out, " **Drive Ignition!** " Three slots on the sides of the shaft flew open and angelic wings of pure pink light fluttered to life. Several electronic rings formed from one end of the weapon to the other as energy began to form and compress into a ball at the spear tip. Frieza's glare gave way to an expression of genuine fear as energy sphere grew larger, reaching its zenith in only a few seconds.

" **Preperations complete, Master!** " said the mechanical voice.

"Thanks, Raising Heart," Nanoha said to the staff.

"You can't do this to me!" Frieza yelled, now thrashing against his restrains; the light wheels flickered briefly. "I am the mighty Freiza! The Emperor of the Universe! I'm not about to be defeated by some lowly magical girl from some no-name anime – "

" _ **DIVINE BUSTER!**_ " Nanoha screamed; there was a hint of annoyance in her voice as she yelled.

A concussive beam of pink energy all but exploded from the tip of her staff, throwing Midoriya and Bakugo off their feet and sending them rolling back into the trees. The blast cleaved a deep trench in the ground while crossing the short distance to Frieza, who screamed with a thrill of panic. The self-proclaimed emperor was consumed by the light, but his dark outline was still visible and his painful cries echoed in their ears. Nanoha lifted Raising Heart, seemingly struggling under the pressure of her own attack, and curved the beam into the sky. The beam swiped across the air, cleaving a couple of overhanging clouds in half, until the energy began to dissipate and vanish. With her sharp eyes, Nanoha spotted Frieza's smoking body being thrown haphazardly across the sky – it looked like he would be landing in the swamp area of the park.

"Raising Heart, power down," Nanoha commanded.

" **Good job, master,** " said Raising heart, venting steam from the openings in its sides and returning to its standard form.

"Ho…ly…crap…," said Bakugo, gaping open-mouthed as he stood up. "That was…."

"Incredible…," Midoriya finished for him. "You…you actually beat Frieza."

"I didn't really beat him, more like caught him off guard," said Nanoha, frowning. "He'll probably have some bruising when he wakes up, but you can bet he'll be coming back for us, and he won't fall for the same trick twice. We need to get moving," she told them as she started walking off.

"Wait, hold up!" Midoriya yelped as he and Bakugo chased after her. "Where're we going?"

"We need to catch up to Mirai's flagship, the Black Star," said Nanoha. "I initially had an army ready to take their main ship down, but we underestimated their numbers and just how coordinated their attacks were gonna be. We weren't as prepared as we thought we would be – our forces are stretched thin."

"But what about All Might?" asked Midoriya worriedly. "We have to go back! We have to save him."

"And we will," said Nanoha, spinning around to him. "Frieza said he was being taken to Mirai. That means All Might is being taken to the Black Star. If we can reach the ship, we can rescue your hero."

"And kick some asses in the process!" said Bakugo, grinning as he punched his hand, setting off a small explosion.

"Yeah, I guess so…," said Nanoha, sweatdropping.

"All right, so we have a plan," said Midoriya, nodding firmly. "Where's the Black Star headed now?"

Nanoha went quiet all of a sudden, looking solemnly at the ground as if she was remembering something terrible. She turned around with her back facing them and stared up at the sky, staring wistfully into space. When she spoke again, there was a hollow sense of mourning in her tone.

"The place where all forgotten anime are buried…. The Tomb of the Lost.

* * *

 **[Nanoha Takamachi has joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	8. Luna Nova Lunatics

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Eight: Luna Nova Lunatics**

* * *

Luna Nova Magical Academy was one of the more recent additions to Animatia's geography and the current (if not only) school for magic. It's white stone turrets rising over the sea of trees that surrounded it from all side, the entire castle looked like it was crafted by a master artisan, and the tallest tower where a luminous green light shined over the land. At one time, Luna Nova had been the center for many tourists and potential witches interested in learning magic.

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation – I mean, the Forgeries attacked.

It had been midafternoon and lessons were just about to end for the day. Everyone had been talking animatedly about what they were going to do for their summer vacation; many expressing not to have another repeat of last summer when they kept repeating the same day over and over again. Many were sitting on the edges of their seats, ready to jump out the moment the clock hit three, but instead of the ring bell, everyone jumped with a thunderous explosion rattled the school. And since the usual culprits were in class when it went off, panic started to settle in before another student pointed out the high windows and everyone rushed their way out to peer outside. That's when they saw the Black Star –

The mountainous airship cast a long shadow of the school as it hovered overhead, stopping directly over the observation tower. But this time, everyone had run out of the classrooms and most of them crowded the courtyard, all of them pointing and looking up. The teachers tried urging them back inside the building when another student cried and jabbing her finger insistently at the Black Star, causing the teachers to turn their attention to the aircraft. The bottom of the Black Star had opened and several dozen humanoid creatures draped in black cloaks fell fifty feet from the air, all of them landing on their hands and feet like prowling beasts. It was the Forgeries – they had infiltrated Luna Nova.

There must have been more than fifty of them, crawling like twisted spiders along the walls and rooftops, chasing down the witches that were fleeing in terror. Some of the older students stayed behind and tried to fight off the Forgeries while their juniors escaped, but the masked menaces contorted their bodies in all sorts of disgusting ways to dodge their attacks and tackle the seniors to the ground. The teachers had a little more luck – they restrained and destroyed a few Forgeries here and there while their students escaped through the Ley Lines, which would safely scatter them across Animatia. But one-by-one, they were overwhelmed by the Forgery's numbers until only the headmistress was left. The diminutive witch had put up a valiant effort and managed to push back an entire platoon of masked soldiers long enough so that the majority of her students managed to escape, but just as the final two were about to escape, the Black Star's cannons suddenly turned and obliterated the gate.

The explosion had thrown the headmistress off balance, which gave the forgeries a chance to jump on top of her. Before she could counter, one of the Forgeries hit her with a metal ball that instantly turned her to crystal. The other Forgeries did the same with the rest of their prisoners until they had a large collection of more than forty different witches in their grasp. In less than twenty minutes, Luna Nova had been invaded and defeated by Mirai's army – it was the most one-sided battle in Animatia's history.

Half the Forgeries loaded their captures on cables, lifting them into the Black Star, while the other half combed around the empty halls of the school, searching for any stragglers. The masked menaces went room to room, checking in every closet and under any bed, but it seemed like all the students had managed to escape during the siege – the Forgeries weren't too sure that Mirai would be happy about this. After another twenty minutes of searching and loading their crystallized prisoners on-board the ship, the Forgeries came to the conclusion that there was no one left in Luna Nova. The masked soldiers grabbed the cables and they were lifted up to the ship, which immediately departed once the hatch had closed.

Luna Nova Magical Academy, once the newest home for magic, was no just an empty castle devoid of life…. Well, almost….

Though the Forgeries believed that they had searched all the room in the castle, they weren't privy to all its secrets. One such secret that not even the teachers knew about was a secret chamber hidden behind one of the bookshelves in the library that only a select few could open. Ten minutes after the Black Star had left Luna Nova's airspace, the bookshelf in the far-right corner split in half and disappeared inside the walls, unveiling pair of large wooden doors. The doors creaked open slightly; a young girl poked her head out slightly, checking if the perimeter was secure, before she stepped outside.

A young witch dressed in a Luna Nova student uniform (a navy-blue tunic with a pointed hat and pointed boots) with a bright red belt and red bands wrapped around her hat and boots. The girl had long, brunette hair with blunt side-bangs and a side ponytail and wide, crimson eyes. Clutched tightly in her hands was a long metals staff with golden adornments and seven crystals embedded in the surface, making a pattern that resembles the Big Dipper.

 **AKKO KAGARI (Little Witch Academia)**

"Thank goodness no one else knows about the Horologium Chamber," Akko muttered to herself. "I can't believe they destroyed the Ley Line Terminal like that…. At least Lotte and the others managed to get away before they destroyed it. Hopefully they're safe wherever they are…. But Professor Holbrooke…Professor Finnelan…even Professor Ursula got caught…. Now what do I do?"

Not wanting to stay and wait for someone else to find her, Akko crossed the library and poked her head out the door cautiously. The hallway was in terrible shape, as was the rest of the school; deep gashes cut into the walls and ceiling, a few scattered craters littered the courtyard, and so many support pillars were left broken that it amazed Akko the building was still standing. But the coast looks clear, Akko thought, as she tentatively stepped out into the hallway, clutching the Shiny Rod to her chest. The castle seemed completely deserted – no Forgeries, no airships…and no witches either. Akko was all alone.

"This is so creepy," said Akko, trudging down the hallway and turning into the courtyard. "Am I the only one left? There was one more person with me before the Ley Line Terminal blew up…. Who was it again…?"

She rubbed her chin, closed her eyes, and hummed thoughtfully to herself, trying to remember the other person that had been cut off with her. But when she opened her eyes again and looked up to the sky, as if expecting to find the answers there, Akko noticed something floating down from the ominous black clouds over the school. At first, she thought it might have been rain, but she didn't know any rain that was bright-red and cube-shaped. She stared at the cubes strangely until a wave of recognition washed over her and she let out of horrified gasp. She recognized those cubes. They were –

"Professor Croix's Noir Fuel Spirit Devices!" said Akko, gaping. "But how? Diana and I destroyed them in space!"

As if sensing Akko's recognition, the glowing cubes quickly surged toward the ground and merged with one another, forming a shapeless red-and-black blob. Akko started to back away slowly when a massive three-fingered claw rose out of the blob and slammed into the ground, cutting wide gashes in the grass with its nails, before a second formed on the opposite side. A pair of legs sprouted in the back and the blob molded itself into a hulking body covered in black armored plates. A dome-shaped head formed in the front, sprouting two curved horns on the side, and seven-burning red eyes flew open, all of them leering at Akko.

The little Japanese witch chuckled nervously, waving her arm, and said, "Eh, heh… _yaho_?"

The Noir Beast's eyes flashed with menacing glints and reared its head with a thunderous roar that made the ground quake beneath Akko's feet. Seemed like the Noir Beast remembered Akko from their last altercation….

Akko spun around on her feet with a high-pitched scream and ran as fast as her legs could carry her (which was pretty damn fast since she had a lot of practice). The Noir Beast lowered its head so that its horns were pointed ahead and charged after her like a rampaging bull.

Akko crossed the courtyard, weaving between the twin statues, only for the Noir Beast to smash its with straight through. She bounced back into the northern hallway and shouldered her way through the double doors into the cafeteria, which was remarkably untouched despite the earlier invasion. Hearing the Noir Beast's heavy footfalls fast approach, Akko quickly grabbed the railing of the stairs, spinning herself around, and climbed up to the second floor just as the black bull smashed its way through the wall underneath. While the Noir Beast slipped across the smooth floor, knocking it's the dozen small tables, Akko skipped the last few steps and threw open the doors to the second-floor hallway.

Akko skid to a hall, looking back and forth between the two hallways that were headed in opposite sides of the castle. If she ran to the left, she could climb the stairs back to the first floor and make her way back to the Horologium Chamber – it's magical barriers should keep the Noir Beast at bay. But if she ran to the right, she could climber up the stairs and make her way to the storage room and the academy shops on the third floor – both would have a lot of magical tools available for fighting the monster off. Before she could make a decision between the two, the door behind her suddenly blew open and the Noir Beast rammed into the hallway.

Akko threw herself to the side as the hulking monster smashed its head through the doors on the opposite side, crashing into the guidance counselor's office; Finnelan was no doing going to blame Akko for this if she ever came back. The beast's body was blocking the left hallway, which meant the only place she could go was the right. Whelp, storage room it is.

The little witch scrambled to her feet and ducked around the corner just as the Noir Beast ripped its head out of the counselor's office, throwing the desk and instruments across the landing before it lowered its horns and gave chase. Akko was full-on sprinting as the Noir Beast slammed its shoulders into the wall, caving in some of the classrooms, and charged after her backside. Thankfully, the hallway wasn't that long and Akko managed to throw herself on the staircase just as the hulking monster flew by, smashing its horns into the wall at the end. Akko could hear the beast ripping its horns free and coming back; she started to climb the stairs when someone suddenly appeared at the top, wand drawn, and yelled:

"Akko, duck!"

Akko didn't even think; she flattened herself against the stairs as the Noir Beast skidded to a stop behind her and roared. The person at the top of the stairs waved their wand and cried, " _ **Destius Fularara!**_ " Seven orbs of compounded wind flew from the tip of her wand, flying down the stairs and honing in on the Noir Beast's face. It shot pounded against the hulking monster with the force of a speeding bus, driving back the beast until the last orb sent it collapsing over the railing and dropping back down into the courtyard with an earthshaking crash.

Akko raised her head, looking back at the broken banister where the Noir Beast had fallen through, then back up at the person who saved her. A young girl her age with pale skin and platinum-blonde hair with tea-green highlights stood at the top step with her wand poised, panting hard with sweat glistening from her brow. She wore the same uniform as Akko, but her belt and bands were light-blue instead of red.

 **DIANA CAVENDISH (Little Witch Academia)**

"Diana!" Akko gasped elatedly.

"This is no time to be lying around; come on!" Diana yelled, grabbing Akko by the wrist and pulling her up.

They heard the Noir Beast struggling down in the courtyard while they bound their way upstairs, skipped the third floor entirely and making their to the fourth. They turned sharply down the hall – Akko nearly tripping over her own feet – and rushed all the way to the last door at the end. Diana wrenched the door open, pulled Akko inside, and slammed it shut behind them. Both of them leaned against the door, panting hard. Akko pressed her ear to the door listening for the Noir Beast. The hallway beyond the wood paneling was eerily quiet. The Noir Beast must have lost them. With that thought in mind, Akko let out a deep sigh of relief and took a seat on a nearby crate, looking around the room they were in.

Diana had taken her to one of the two storerooms where the staff liked to hide things and pretend that the students couldn't come and go as they pleased. More specifically, Akko quickly realized, it was the storeroom that housed the faceless portrait of whom Akko now knew was supposed to be Woodward. Akko vividly remembered searching this room for the Seven Wonders of Luna Nova when she and her friends had been trapped repeating the first day of summer. Akko stared at the faceless portrait as if Woodward would just pop up and help them; she always did have a way of guiding Akko, though it was usually through some cryptic, roundabout way.

Diana walked over and leaned against the shelf next to Akko, sighing with exhaustion as she tilted her head back and stared aimlessly at the ceiling.

"Thanks for saving me, Diana," said Akko gratefully.

"It was the least I could do," said Diana, gesturing a quick nod. "After the Ley Line Terminal was destroyed, I had to be sure if there was anyone else that had managed to escape those things. I knew I couldn't fight them directly – they defeated the teachers, for goodness sake – so I ran down to the east laundry room and used the metamorphosis spell to hide in the hidden chamber until the danger had passed. That's when I heard you and that monster wreaking havoc all over the school."

"Hey, I wasn't 'wreaking havoc', I was running for my life!" said Akko indignantly.

"As you say," said Diana, flipping her hair in a condescending way; she still hadn't grown out of that habit. "But, Akko, you know what that thing is, don't you?"

"If you're asking me if I think that's the monster from Professor Croix's Noir Rod, then yes," said Akko. "But how is it back? I thought we destroyed it when we opened the Grand Triskellion and restored the world of magic."

"It would appear that some fragments of the Noir Rod must have survived our duel with the missile," said Diana, touching her chin thoughtfully. "Whoever it was that attacked us must have found them and revived that monster. They probably left it here because they were afraid they might have missed someone."

"So, what now? Are we gonna fight it?" asked Akko.

"I'd rather not take the chance," said Diana, shaking her head. "We only managed victory last time because we had the aid of our friends and the concentrated magical energy of an entire country. We won't have that this time. Our best option would be to retreat and regroup with others."

"And where're we supposed to go?" asked Akko.

"We can fly to the Clover Kingdom," said Diana. "It's a relatively new territory in Animatia, but it is full of people with magic almost equivalent to those in Fairy Tail. You know how to fly a broom now, so we'll escape through the window and fly south-east from here. But before we depart. Akko, give me your hand."

"What're you doing?" asked Akko, but nonetheless holding her hand out, which Diana took into her own.

"There is a possibility that we may be separated," said Diana seriously as she whipped out her wand. "If that should happen, we need a way of finding one another. This spell will allow both of us to create a trail that only we should be able to see. _**Vivre Solwara**_!"

She waved her hand above their joined hands and showered them in red sparks. Akko felt a slight pressure around her pinky finger and stared as a red thread formed on her smallest digit. The thread then formed a narrow trail that led to Diana's hand, tying a loop around her pinky as well. Being Japanese, Akko understood the implication and felt her whole face turn bright-red. But Diana didn't seem remotely embarrassed; she looked up at Akko, raising a curious brow at her reddening expression.

"Akko, what's the matter? You look feverish," she asked in concern.

"N-n-n-no, no, I'm f-f-fine," Akko stuttered, her entire hand shaking. "S-s-s-so, this – this spell. It's a red thread, huh?"

"Yes," Diana answered simply. "It is small enough so that it won't be distracting, but the bright red color makes it visible enough to follow. Don't worry, the thread will magically lengthen itself depending on the distance between us. No matter how far we go, we will always be able to find one another."

"And…you tied it to our pinkies," said Akko, swallowing loudly.

"So it won't be in the way," said Diana, tilting her head in a confused way. "Akko, you are acting strange – well, stranger than usual. Is there a reason why you are so concerned about tying a red thread to out smallest fingers?"

"…It nothing," Akko squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

"Then let us be off," said Diana, walking past the stuttering mess that was Akko without a second glance. "We must depart before that monster realizes where we have gone."

She walked over to the window, unlatched it, and pushed it open, looking out to the lengthy stretch of forest that surrounded the school; they had a long road ahead of them. Diana turned back to Akko as she used the Word associated with the Shiny Rod's fifth star, transforming it into the Shiny Balai. Akko lifted her leg over and straddled the broom, shifting around to find a more comfortable position, when she felt an extra weight on the broom. Diana was sitting directly behind her. They had shared a broom many times in both the OVAs and the anime, but having her sit so close when Diana failed to realize the implications behind her red thread spell nearly made Akko explode with embarrassment. And to make matters worse, Diana wrapped her arms around Akko's waist, pulling her closer.

The Diakko fandom, Akko thought, must be going wild right now.

"Are we all set?" Diana asked seriously. "If so, then let us leave quickly."

"Uh, er, right?" sputtered Akko, pointedly looking forward. " _ **Tia Freyre!**_ "

Akko felt her feet leave the ground as the broom floated to life. No matter how many times she used the spell, she still couldn't believe she was flying on her own. Together, she and Diana leaned forward to the window's edge, looking left and right to make sure the coast was clear, then launched forward with a burst of magical energy.

The trees zoomed past underneath their feet as Luna Nova became smaller and smaller in the background. Akko looked sadly over her shoulder; the once magnificent castle that had become her homes was now a smoking pile of rubble. Akko didn't know who those people were in that flying ship, but she was gonna make them pay…she wasn't sure how exactly, but she was gonna make them pay! But her thoughts of revenge were momentarily pushed from her mind when she felt Diana squeezed her waist. Akko craned her head back to look at her, noticing that her blonde friend was frowning in that way she always did when she didn't approve of Akko doing something.

"I know what you're thinking, Akko, but don't even try it," said Diana firmly.

"W-What? I wasn't thinking about anything…," said Akko, speaking in a would-be innocent tone.

"You want to go after those men," said Diana. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "You want to get revenge. It's just like what happened when Fafnir stole the Sorcerer's Stone and you blindly rushed in to take care of everything by yourself and ended up putting our friends in danger. Well, you can forget about it, because I will stop you if you try anything."

"We can't just let them get away with this, Diana!" Akko complained. "They destroyed our home! Our friends are missing! We have to go and teach them a lesson!"

"And how are you going to fight an entire army of those things when the entire teaching staff failed to do so?" Diana challenged her. Akko bit her lip and said nothing. "Akko, I am just as frustrated and upset as you are – I haven't felt this helpless in a long time – but we need to be smart about this. A couple of student witches aren't going to stand a chance against them."

"Then what're we supposed to do?" asked Akko, huffing.

"The Clover Kingdom has these organizations called Magic Knights," said Diana. "They are like the guilds from Fairy Tail only more…knightly, I suppose. We beseech one of them for help and go after the invaders with them. That way we can stand a better chance of defeating those men and saving everyone that was captured."

"…Okay, I guess that's a good plan," Akko muttered, pouting. "But which one of them Magic Knights groups are gonna – "

She was cut off when an earthshaking roar screeched through the forest, making the trees quiver below them. They knew it was the Noir Beast, but it didn't sound like it was coming from the castle. Rather, it seemed like it was coming from…above them?

Both little witches turned their focus to the sky as something large cut through the clouds overhead, curling around like an oversized worm, and them started flying directly at them. Akko managed to pull the Shiny Balai out of the way in time to let whatever it was fly by and smash into the forest. Neither one of them wanted to stick around so they kept flying straight ahead, but they could hear entire trees snapping behind them and Diana chanced a glance back over her shoulder. Something was mowing down a clean path through the forest and was slowly gaining on them despite the Shiny Balai's great speed. It only took a couple minutes before whatever was chasing them finally caught up and emerged from the sea of trees like a hungry shark. Diana gasped; Akko looked back and did the same.

The Noir Beast was after them again, but now it had taken up the missile form it had used in the final episode of their anime; multiple rage-filled eyes and a jagged mouth along its spiked body. The Noir Missile exploded with an extra boost of rage-fueled energy from its tail and shot at the little witches. This time, Diana reached around Akko and pulled the Shiny Balai sideways while her partner was still staring stupidly back at the missile. They only barely manage to avoid the charge; Akko's left foot scrapped against the edges of the Missile's surface, cutting out the bottom and leaving her bare foot open to the air.

"Hey, do you know how much these costs?" Akko shouted the Noir Missile, shaking her fist angrily. "Professor Badcock's gonna take this out of my allowance, I just know it! That cheapskate!"

"I believe we have more pressing matters that your footwear," said Diana, watching the missile as it flew further ahead.

"Well, yeah, I guess so, but this shouldn't be a problem, right?" said Akko optimistically. "I mean, we're just basically repeating the same thing we did in the final episode. You would think that after getting blown up the first time, it would try to do something a little more original this time around."

Up ahead, the Noir Missile suddenly stopped in mid-flight, straighten its narrow body upwards – then its form began to bulge, shift, and expand. Metal was replaced by solid flesh with muscles building underneath, limbs sprouting like weeds from multiple places. Thin, three-clawed arms and legs sprang forth, stretching their talons, a wide spiny tail lashed from its behind, a pair of leather bat-like winged exploded from its back, and a long narrow neck grew from the top ending with a pointed snout, seven burning-red eyes, and a mouth full of serrated teeth. The beast reared its head and roared to the sky, creating a shockwave of sound that shook the trees and nearly upended the little witches.

The Noir Missile had evolved into the Noir Dragon.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Diana scolded Akko furiously.

" _Gomenasai!_ " Akko cried in her native tongue.

The Noir Dragon narrowed its seven blazing eyes on them and lunged forward with such speeds that it created a sonic boom in its wake. Akko and Diana couldn't move out of the way fast enough and ended up ramming the monster head-on. The pair was thrown forward off the Shiny Balai which transformed back into the Shiny Rod the moment the left their seats – and were flung forward over its head. Akko and Diana landed roughly on the Noir Dragon's back as it flew up them and began rolling down. Diana managed to grab hold of one of the dragon's spines to stop herself and caught Akko's hand at the last minute before she could fly off. Both of them let out relieved sighs until they heard a soft clanging noise coming from further up the dragon's spine.

They spotted the Shiny Rod hanging precariously from one of the Noir Dragon's barbs, shaking and rattling as the gale force winds blew past them, threatening to fall over at any moment. Much to Diana's surprise, Akko suddenly crawled up and all-fours and practically sprinted up the dragon's back, slipping and sliding dangerously against the monster's smooth surface.

"Akko, what are you doing?" Diana cried frantically. "Stay down! You're going to fall off!"

"I need to get the Shiny Rod!" Akko yelled, crawling ahead again.

"Akko, it's too dangerous!" shouted Diana, trying vainly to reach out for her. "Forget about the rod! We can retrieve it later!"

"No, I need it!" Akko yelled definitely. "I can save us! I can stop this monster! I just need the rod to do it!"

"There are other ways – !"

"I NEED THE ROD!" Akko howled maddeningly. "I NEED IT!"

Akko was acting uncharacteristically desperate, Diana thought. The Japanese witch practically buried her nails into the Noir Dragon's skin as she crawled further up its back. She was very close; she could almost reach out and touch it. Akko stretched out her hand – her finger barely brushed the metallic surface – when the Noir Dragon suddenly lurched forward into a frontal flip. Both Akko and Diana were bucked off the dragon's spin into the air, but Akko's was more focused on the Shiny Rod, which has dislodged itself from the dragon's barb and was flung to the farthest end of the forest, disappearing over the horizon with a glint. The Japanese witch felt her heart drop along with her jaw. She stretched her hand out in the direction the Shiny Rod flew, almost as if it would come back if she wished hard enough. But it didn't.

"Akko!" cried Diana.

Akko was snapped out of her stupor by Diana's desperate scream. First, she looked to her friend, who was free falling alongside her several feet away, and then she looked down where Noir Dragon was turning in place before stretching its neck, its jaws wide ready to swallow her. Akko shrieked and started flailing her arms like wings, but it didn't do anything to slow her descent; this was one of the rare instance where she had been made in western cartoon where the laws of reality didn't apply as much.

At the same time, Diana whipped out her wand, lighting it with magical energy as she performed a spell:

" _ **Fineltina la Sera**_ –"

But she had no chance of finishing the incantation before the Noir Dragon's tail whipped across the air, smacking the blonde witch directly from the front, and shooting her down into the trees. Akko's let out a horrified gasp while staring at the space where she disappeared.

"DIAN – !"

 _ **SNAP!**_ The Noir Dragons closed its mouth over Akko, swallowing her whole.

She couldn't see; everything was pitch-black. Everything around her felt like thick rubber, squeezing her from all sides. She couldn't breathe; she was suffocating. Akko took long, deep breathes and held them, trying to conserve oxygen, while trying to push the restricting material away from her body. She punched and kicked, but it would always snap back into place; if anything, it felt like her struggling was making the material restrict her even more. After a few seconds, she stopped struggling when she found herself getting lightheaded. The walls were compression on her; she couldn't move an inch. Her vision was starting to fade in and out….

"I…I can't do this…," Akko murmured mournfully, her eyes stinging with frightened tears running down her cheeks. "Lotte…Sucy…Diana…Ursula-Sensei…. Please…someone…help me…."

As the walls began to press down on her head, Akko's sharp ears caught something that wasn't there before. It sounded muffled, but she could definitely hear something going on outside; someone was screaming. Akko couldn't quite make out the words, but she heard a few snatches….

"… _ire…gon…on…fist!_ "

Unexpectedly, Akko could feel the walls shuddering around her, decompressing to give her room to breathe. Something had hit the Noir Dragon and they had hit it hard. The surface beneath her felt unusually warm; a small orangish-yellow light was glimmering through the dragon's thick skin. Then, without warning, Akko was suddenly lurched backwards, feeling like she was being pulled through a very narrow rubber tube. There were a few moments of darkness where Akko didn't know where she was going – then she saw a small light at the end of the tunnel that grew larger every second until she thrust outside.

Akko blinked owlishly. She was back outside, floating at least thirty feet above the forest canopy, while the Noir Dragon fell backwards into the trees, signs of would-be saliva dribbling down its chin. The monster had thrown Akko back up, but what she didn't know was why. Of course, she had little time to think about that when she felt gravity mercilessly pull her back down and remembered that she was still free falling from a height that would surely kill her. Without a broom or wings, Akko stood very little chance of saving herself, so the least that she could do was scream for her life, hoping that some hero would hear her cries and come to her rescue. Luckily, there was such a hero nearby.

Someone bounded off the top branch of the nearest trunk and shot up by what must have been twenty feet before catching Akko surely in his muscular arms. The hero carried Akko down the rest of the way and landed firmly on his feet, impacting the ground with enough force to leave deep cracks in the rock. Akko, who had her eyes closed the entire time, blinked curiously when she realized she wasn't falling anymore. Her rescuer set her down on her feet and the little witch turned around, tilting her head back to look up at the stranger that was flashing her a wide, toothy grin.

He was a very lean and _**very**_ muscular young man with shaggy, spiked pink and a bright-red tattoo branded on his right shoulder. He wore a long-sleeved black-and-gold waistcoat with the right sleeve missing to completely expose his arm, a similarly colored cloak tied around his waist, white knee-length trousers with black ribbon ties, and open-toed sandals. He had a scale-patterned scarf wrapped around his neck, which was colored an ominous shade of black.

Akko was so busy staring at the man that she didn't realize he was petting her head until he said, "You okay there, kid? You weren't scared, were ya?"

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL (Fairy Tail)**

"Uh, n-no, I wasn't!" sputtered Akko, hastily wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "I totally had things under control!"

"Well, that's good," said Natsu, grinning. "For a second there, I thought you were in trouble. Guess I just got in the way, huh?"

"…You helped out a little," Akko mumbled, looking away embarrassed.

"Good to know," said Natsu, chuckling amusingly.

"So what happened to that drag – ?" Akko started to ask when she was cut off by a high-pitched screech.

She and Natsu turned around. The trees behind them were roughly pushed aside as the Noir Dragon reared its seven-eyed head, its snout flaring with rage. Akko squeaked and ducked behind Natsu, who leered at the dragon with his steely gaze. Either the dragon didn't presume the newcomer as a threat or disregarded him entirely, the Noir monster lunged its neck forward with its jaws wide open the swallow them a second time. But at the same time, Natsu took in a deep breath, expand his chest as far as it could go – Akko felt a strange heat coming off her new friend.

" _ **FIRE DRAGON ROAR!**_ " Natsu howled.

The Fairy Tail wizard lurched forward and exhaled, bellowing out a massive current of white-hot flames that made even Akko throw up her arms defensively from the intensity of the heat. The Noir Dragon caught the full brunt of Natsu's flames, wailing as it was smothered by the fire, ripping the beast apart piece by piece. The fiery blast only lasted a few seconds, but when Natsu finally relented, all the remained of the Noir Dragon was snowflakes of ash floating down over their heads. Akko peeked over Natsu's shoulder, jaw dropping so far it was surprisingly it hadn't gone through the ground.

"Whoa…that was so cool…," Akko said in awe."

"Heh-heh, thanks," said Natsu, grinning in a self-satisfactory sort of way.

"You're amazing…," said Akko. "Guess that's what you'd expect from someone in Fairy Tail."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," said Natsu brightly, slapping Akko on the back. "I've seen your anime, and it's pretty cool. You did a lot of amazing things."

"That's only because I have the Shiny Rod to help," Akko mumbled pitifully. "If it wasn't for Diana…. Wait, Diana! She was knocked out by that dragon! I have to find her!"

"Are you sure?" asked Natsu, who was sniffing that air like a wild dog. "'Cause I don't smell anyone else around. Maybe she got away during the fight…."

"Diana wouldn't just leave without making sure everyone was okay," said Akko, frowning. "…unless those guys in the masks came back and captured her."

"You mean the ones in that flying ship," said Natsu, his expression suddenly turning very serious. "I was chasing after them myself when I got here. They attacked the Guild Hall and stole the Fairy Heart right out from under our nose. Then they set off one of those bombs and blew everything up. Lucy, Gray, Erza, Gramps – they were all swallowed up by that weird energy. When I woke up, the Guild Hall was gone. But that wasn't the weirdest part. No matter who I asked, no one seemed to remember who they were. It's like everyone just forgot about them."

"Weren't you caught in the blast, too?" asked Akko curiously. "How'd you make it out."

"It must've been my scarf," said Natsu, tugging at the black cloth around his neck. "See the color? It's normally white, but now it's black. The same thing happened before when it protected me from Zeref's death magic. Maybe it kept me from being swallowed up like them."

"So everyone from Fairy Tail is gone except you?" Akko asked despairingly.

"Gajeel and Wendy were out on jobs when things went down," said Natsu. "Maybe I'll run into them whole I chasing those jerks that attacked the guild."

"I need to find Diana," said Akko. She held up her hand, staring at the invisible red thread tied to her pinky. "If she got caught with everyone else, then I can't just leave her."

"Then let's look for them together," Natsu suggested optimistically. "Two heads are better than one…or something like that. We can look for our friends and watch each other's backs. Whaddya say?"

"Well…I guess that's fine," said Akko, though slightly uncertain. "I'm Atsuko Kagari – but everyone calls me Akko."

"Name's Natsu," said Natsu, flashing a friendly smile. "So what're we waitin' for? Let's go save our friends!"

Akko had to admit, it was hard not to feel a little optimistic with Natsu around.

So while the new team of Natsu and Akko stared walking in some random direction, not having the first clue how to get out of Luna Nova's surrounding forest, they didn't realize that they were ebing watched from a great distance, far out of the range of Natsu's sense of smell.

Haruko was sitting on her humming moped, making an annoyed hum as she spied the new team through her telescope. When she didn't see the girl with the sparkly stick among the prisoners the Forgeries had brought on board, Haruko had rightly assumed that Akko was still hiding somewhere in Luna Nova. That's why she – with Mirai's permission – set the Noir Monster loose on them. It should have been a quick fix, especially once the girl had lost her special wand. And then this dragon slayer comes completely out of nowhere and screws everything up for her! Why does she always have the crappy luck?

"Grr…I know the boss is gonna blame me for this somehow," said Haruko, collapsing her telescope. "But…maybe he won't be too mad if I at least don't come back empty-handed."

She looked over hopefully at her left, hoping her latest acquisition would be enough to quell Mirai's anger. After all, who wouldn't want a crystal statue of the Cavendish brat?

* * *

 **[Akko Kagari and Natsu Dragneel have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	9. Soul-Cial Gathering

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Nine: Soul-cial Gathering**

* * *

The Soul Society resided in the far northern terrain of Animatia, divided from the rest of the continent by a long range of mountains that stretched from one coast to the next. The placement of the Soul Society was chosen by its original founder as a way of separating those who lived in the feudal-style territory away from other anime; rumor had it that the creator was egotistical and saw their anime superior from others until it lost popularity after the Aizen arc ended. To this day, those in the Soul Society rarely interacted with the rest of Animatia, which, it turned out, would be the cause of its downfall.

Swarms of Neuroi flew over the mountains with ease, their black bodies casting wide shadows over the town below. Having been separated from the rest of Animatia for so long, many who lived in the districts had never seen the Neuroi before and would gawk open mouth at the sentient planes. It wasn't until a pack of drones lay siege to the central castle with heavy laser fire that the isolationist finally understood the full scope of the situation. Predictably enough, the regular civilians scattered like cockroaches in a blind panic, hindering dark-clothed military force trying to make their way through. The Neuroi showed no mercy for any of them and promptly eradicated groups with the largest numbers with relentless laser fire and impact bombs. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss them – this anime had a reputation for getting rid of non-essential characters.

It wasn't until they reached the center of the Soul Society that the Neuroi's faced resistance –

A legion of Neuroi drones were flying over the high walls of the central region when a wave of what looked to be sakura petals glided across the air, sweeping around like a swarm of angry bees. The flying flowers splashed half the Neuroi from underneath while the rest glided around. As each petal fluttered across the surface of the planes, they left behind a deep cut in the Neuroi's metallic armor. The surprisingly sharp petals sliced the surface of the fighter planes inch by inch, like an army of termites biting through wood, until their glowing red cores were exposed. The flowers then shifted their focus on the cores and smashed them from all directions; the Neuroi's ominous red light faded instantly and they dropped out of the sky one-by-one.

The ones that had managed to slip around the lethal flowers were preparing to bombard the Soul Society's central region when a flurry of snow suddenly blew in their direction without warning. The Soul Society was a controlled temperature area – they didn't have snow! Normally the Neuroi could just ignore this since they were made from cold, unfeeling metal. But what they couldn't ignore was the sheets of thick ice growing on their wings, expanding across the surface of their bodies until they were completely frozen in solid blocks of ice. They dropped out of the sky like two-ton weights, shattering large ice chunks all over the street. One such drone was broken into two pieces as it hit the ground and the front end slid across the concrete, stopping at the feet of their attackers.

Two people – a man and a woman of different age – holstered their katana once the apparent threat had passed. Both were wearing dark-clothed uniforms of traditional Japanese style like the rest of the defenders in the Soul Society, but they had the addition of the white coats to represent their higher status. The short woman of the duo treaded through the ice field she had created and approached the largest piece still intact. She raised her hand to touch the block when her older companion suddenly zipped forward in the blink of an eye and grabbed her wrist, scolding her.

"Don't touch it, Rukia, you don't know what it's capable of," he said.

"It's fine, brother, we destroyed it," said Rukia, frowning at him as she took her hand back.

"Perhaps," her brother said coolly. "The other captains are handling the situation in the other districts. We've never encountered such an enemy before. They're completely armored and possess weapons we know nothing about."

"Which wouldn't be a problem if we didn't deliberately divide ourselves from the rest of the continent," said Rukia. Her brother sighed exasperatedly; this was apparently a repetitive talk for them. "In the time I stayed with Ichigo, I learned so many things I wouldn't have in the Soul Society – magical girls, mechas, aliens, and spaghetti tacos. If we could just – "

"We've talked this subject to death, Rukia – no pun intended," said her brother, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Whatever your feelings may be, the decision lies in the hands of the Central 46, and they are unlikely to change their minds in the near future."

"I know, but I can't help feeling that – wait, do you hear that?" Rukia said suddenly.

Her brother turned around looking at her strangely as she looked back and forth until he heard the noise too. It was a soft, beeping sound – like the countdown of a clock. They searched around for the source of the noise until Rukia realized it was coming from within the bisected pieces of the Neuroi drone encased in ice. The short soldier walked over and pressed her face against the cold surface. It was hard to see through the foggy ice at first, but her sharp eyes spotting something round inside the drone itself. It was made of black metal like the Neuroi, which is why they didn't see it at first, but inside the casing was a transparent tube holding a pulsating dark energy core right beneath a timer that was counting down from **5…4…3…**

Rukia gasped, spun around, and cried, "BROTHER! RUN!"

Too late –

 _ **BOOOOOM!**_

The black dome of Retcon energy burst forth from its container, expanding in every direction at an alarming rate. Rukia had tried to run for her brother one she realized what the bomb was, but was immediately swallowed upon detonation with her brother, horrified by his sister's disappearance, following shortly after. The explosion covered nearly a quarter of the central district, but it wasn't the only one. At the same time, several dozen Retcon bombs went off one after another across the Soul Society as evident by the expanding black domes that were swelling up all over. It became depressingly apparent that the Neuroi's invasion had been little more than a suicide bombing with the intention of taking the Soul Society with them.

And it had worked – in a matter of minutes, all the Retcon explosion merged into one gigantic dome that completely covered the region in dark matter. And just as quickly as they came, the Retcon energy vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing behind but a clean patch of wasteland where the great city had once been. A soft wind of sandy air blew across terrain – a stereotype that naturally occurred in Animatia to represent how empty a place was….

And then, something – or someone – flew over the mountains and landed on the edge of the barren wastes with a soft clap of his straw sandals. He was a relatively tall man with a lean-built body and narrow eyes, his spiky orange hair bristling in the desert wind. His attire was similar to the men and women who had been fighting the Neuroi moments ago, but had a few noticeable differences: two white shoulder plates crossing his chest in an "X" shape, a white cloak with black markings tied around his waist, and a pair of different sized swords – a short one at his hip and a long one on his back. He looked around with a thoughtful hum, feeling a scratch itch in the back of his brain that told him he was missing something, but….

"While do I feel like…I'm forgetting something?" her muttered to himself.

 **ICHIGO KUROSAKI (Bleach)**

Ichigo cautiously glided deeper into the new terrain, the prickling in the back of his brain constantly irritating him. It was like he knew somewhere deep down that this area was supposed to be important, but Ichigo couldn't tell for the life of him what it was supposed to be. He flew through the wide stretch of deserted land until he spotted something in the distance. He floated back down to the ground and found himself staring at the empty casing of a Retcon Bomb; the black metal tarnished with dirt and its light faded from a lack of energy, but it seemed otherwise undamaged. It metal, it seemed, wasn't affected by the Retcon energy like everything else, which would explain why the were chosen to contain the energy in the first place. Ichigo touched the shell with a strange look in his eyes, humming to himself in thought.

"This metal feels weirdly familiar," said Ichigo. "I know I've seen it before, but nothing from my anime. I think…it might be from one of the new shows. Which one was it again…? Oh, right, I think it was – "

"I'll admit I'm a little surprised your still here, but not really."

Ichigo perked up as the low, distorted voice reached his ears. The orange-haired Shinigami didn't turn around for he could see the numerous shadows stretching across the bomb shell and the ground, meaning they were coming right at him. With speeds that surpassed even Goku and All Might, Ichigo crossed his arms, reached for his swords on opposite sides, pivoted on his heels, and whipped them around the air with a quick spin. His sharp eyes only caught brief glimpses of maybe five or six men dressed in long, tattered cloaks wearing strange masks before his Zanpakuto sliced through them, spraying the ground red with their blood and casting their dismembered parts to the side.

Ichigo took a deep breath and calmed himself. Had this been before the Quincy Arc (I.E. the biggest disaster in his manga's history), Ichigo would have hesitated to take his blade to another living person that wasn't part Hollow. The orange-haired man looked down at one of the severed heads and tilted his own sideways for a better look at their mask. That was something he did recognize – Ichigo was a big fan of the Deadman Wonderland series and had seen the Forgeries in the manga. But what were they doing all the way out here – Deadman Wonderland was at least a hundred miles south of their location.

"Well, that was disappointing, but not unexpected." Ichigo leaned back and looked up. Mirai was floating in the sky above, standing with his arms crossed on top of yet another Retcon Bomb. "The main characters always have a way of getting out of precarious situations, no matter how big of an asspull it might be. How did you manage to escape the bomb's effects?"

"I don't know what you mean by bomb; I just got here," said Ichigo, his brow furrowed.

"Then that explains it," said Mirai. "Chalk it up to dumb luck."

"Now it's my turn to ask the questions," said Ichigo, pointing his long sword at Mirai. "Who the hell are you? What happened here?"

"At least we know the Retcon Bomb's effect works on Shinigami," Mirai muttered to himself. "This confirms then reports that they can't use magic. One less problem out of the way…."

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Ichigo shouted impatiently. "You better start answering right now!"

"And what would be the point of that," said Mirai antagonistically, "when you're about to be wiped from existence anyway?"

No sooner had Mirai said this than the gray clouds over the wastelands parted, revealing the Black Star that had been hovering over them the entire time. Ichigo gritted his teeth and took an involuntary step back. The hatch underneath slid open and shower of bodies jumped out, landing bodily on the hard ground with sickening, bone-snapping thuds. A fall from that height would have killed normal men, but the Forgeries picked themselves up one after another, forcing their broken bodies back into place, making a cacophony of noises that would make one wince and look away; but not Ichigo. Before he knew it, Ichigo suddenly found himself surrounded by what must have been somewhere between sixty to eighty Forgeries. The Substitute Shinigami crouched low with his swords parallel to his body on opposite sides, his narrow eyes shooting back and forth watching the masked soldiers.

And from his place above the battlefield, Mirai crossed his arms and tilted his faceless expression toward Ichigio.

"You're one of the most decorated warriors in anime," said Mirai, "right up there with Goku, Sailor Moon, and Naruto. So I figured I should figured I should use twice as many Forgeries for you."

"All this for me," Ichigo said lightly with a playful smirk despite the situation. "I'm flattered."

"Don't go think you're anything special, fossil," said Mirai rudely. "I'm simply choosing not to repeat my mistakes. I went too easy at the World Martial Arts Tournament, but not this time…. I will make sure you stay forgotten, relic…. Forgeries…erase him!"

The Forgeries started closing in on him; Ichigo moved slowly into a position where he could swing his Zanpakuto quicker when they undoubtedly attacked him from all sides. But the masked soldiers didn't move more than two steps before they suddenly paused and started looking around wildly. Ichigo raised his brow inquisitively until he heard it too: the thundering of a powerful engine getting louder and closer every second. When the noise level reached its peak, Ichigo craned his head forward while the Forgeries turned back towards the mountains, spotting a massive dustbowl coming their way at frightening speeds.

If possible, Mirai's expression might have turned into a deep scowl as he climbed higher into the air for a better look. The noise and the dustbowl were expectedly coming from a heavy-looking armored motorcycle unlike anything normally seen in Animatia. The behemoth bike had two normal wheels in front with a monster-sized wheel in the back, making it more of a motorized trike than anything else, accompanied with two oversized detachable blades on the side of the chassis. The driver of this…Black Trike was wearing a long, loose-fitted black jacket with a hood that obscured their facial features, but if he tilted to the side, he could barely see the back of their jackets, which was branded with…a white star….

"No…she can't be here…," Mirai muttered softly, his distorted voice slightly tinged with fear. "How did she survive…?"

Mirai was apparently stunned by the appearance of this hooded right for he failed to issue a command to the Forgeries before they were barreled over by the Black Trike. The unknown hero plowed through their numbers like a runaway train, knocking them over the hood of their cycle and creating a symphony of broken limbs while spraying their ground red with their bladed attachments. Ichigo jumped into the air and hovered as the Black Trike turned sideways and come to a screeching halt where he had been standing. The rider hopped of the Black Trike, leaving it idle, and threw back their hood –

The rider, it turned out, was a young woman – a very short woman with a very thin disproportionate figure that might mistake her for an anorexic and alarming-pale skin that made her look like death. Her jet-black hair was tied up in two asymmetrical pigtails, one twice the length of the other, and bright-blue eyes that seemed to be glowing. Underneath her coat was a pair of scars on her midriff just above her denim shorts and a bikini top to cover her small chest. Her knee-high black boots clapped against the ground as she adjusted her black gloves, leering at the remaining Forgeries and then Mirai himself. The enigmatic leader look visibly taken aback, floating away every so slightly.

"You're alive…," he said softly, hesitantly, "Black Rock Shooter…."

 **BLACK ROCK SHOOTER (Black Rock Shooter)**

"Hey, Black, good to see you're still around," said Ichigo, landing beside the newcomer. "Figured you were too stubborn to let yourself be forgotten. So…which one are you this time? You look like a combination of the OVA and the anime, but your bike is from the video game and your hair looks closer to the manga version. So, which is it?"

Black Rock Shooter stared blankly at him…and then gave him a thumbs-up.

"Ah, I get it," said Ichigo, somehow translating her silence. "You're a combination of all of them. That's smart."

Black Rock Shooter grunted and nodded; (she's basically a bigger, more badass version of Constanze).

"I don't know how you managed to survive a fall from ten thousand feet in the air," Mirai said to Black Rock Shooter, "but you will not survive this day. Erase them, my Forgeries!"

Even after Black Rock Shooters dramatic (and gory) entrance, there was still at least somewhere around fifty to sixty Forgeries swarming them. The masked soldiers moved in perfect synch; all of them held out their arms and cut deep gashes in their forearms, spilling waterfalls of blood down their wrists between their fingers. They closed their hands into fists and their blood sprang to life like crimson serpents as they lashed them at the black-garbed heroes. Ichigo and Black Rock Shooter quickly moved sideways towards each other until they were standing back to back, staring down the Forgeries that were snapping their fake Branches of Sin from all sides. Despite being heavily outnumbered, neither one of them seemed intimidated, especially when they knew the other was watching their back.

As Ichigo stretched his swords out in opposite directions, covered them in a radiant amount of spiritual energy, Black Rock Shooter held her hand out front, summoning a series of dark-blue energy blocks that revolved and compressed until they had become a single, heavy-looking black cannon. Black Rock Shooter grasped her arm as the cannon charged with brilliant-blue energy while Ichigo turned the swords in his hand and pivoted on her foot, twisting in a short circle yelling –

" _ **Getsuga Tensho**_ **!** "

Ichigo swung his swords, one after the other, slashing the air with a pair of crescent moon-shaped energy blades at least twenty feet in length. The attack completely smashed all of the blood snakes on his side of the field, even the ones that weren't in its path, then carried on to slice at least eight Forgeries in three places, creating a small pile of bloody parts on the ground. And at the same time, Black Rock Shooter pulled the trigger and launched a single dark-colored rock coated in flickering blue flames, nearly falling over from the powerful recoil. The appropriately named projectile punched its way through the Forgery's blood constructs without any signs of slowing down, then flew directly to the nearest Forgery, exploding its head upon impact with the soldier's skull before continuing to the next one behind it. The black rock bullet cut a clear line through the Forgeries, killing no less than five soldiers and leaving many wounded.

Mirai seemed visibly shaken in spite of his lack of expression.

"Hurry up and kill them, you fools!" yelled Mirai, fear evident in his tone. "Erase them before I erase you!"

The remaining Forgeries created more blood snakes, but kept them close, wrapping them protectively around their arms and legs. The masked soldiers ducked their heads and charged headlong at Ichigo and Black Rock Shooter. The dark-clothed duo pressed their backs together again as the enemy closed in on them, until Ichigo looked back over his shoulder and said, "Black, slingshot!"

Black Rock Shooter grunted and nodded.

The two stepped away and turned to face one another – Ichigo tucked his short sword into his belt – and grabbed each other by the wrists. It took a lot of effort on Ichigo's part to pull Black Rock Shooter off the ground; the girl herself was dainty and light as a feather, but her weapon must have weight a thousand pounds. But the Substitute Shinigami pulled at her arm with all his might and successfully whipped Black Rock Shooter around in a full circle, making the Forgeries who was charging at them take a step back in hesitation. When they completed the rotation, Ichigo and Black Rock Shooter simultaneously let go of each other's hands, flinging the dark-haired girl into the crowd.

Black Rock Shooter flipped in the air and slammed her boot into a Forgery's face, smashing the mask under her heel. Before either of them could get a good look at who was underneath, Black Rock Shooter used the Forgery's face as a kickboard to flip backwards while Ichigo suddenly zoomed in underneath, decapitating the soldier without warning or mercy. The others did not lament the loss of their comrade as they immediately charged into the fray. Ichigo grabbed Black Rock Shooter's hand and whipped her of the air, who in turn swung her Rock Cannon around like a club, batting the enemy away. Immediately after Black Rock Shooter's feet scrapped the ground, the dark-haired girl pulled at Ichigo's hand to swing him around as well. The Substitute Shinigami cried out his signature move (" _ **Getsuga Tensho!**_ ) and sliced another six or seven Forgeries with his crescent moon energy blade, adding on top of the growing pile of corpses.

Ichigo settled back on his feet and pressed his broad back against Black Rock Shooter's petite form again, surveying the field. Thanks to all their efforts, they had dwindled the Forgeries numbers to less than half, but the survivors were acting noticeably cautious now. None of them were attacking blindly anymore; they were learning.

"Keep your guard up," Ichigo warned his companion. "They're could be up to something.

Black Rock Shooter grunted and nodded again…. Then, without warning, her eye suddenly ignited with flicking blue flames just like the ones that shrouded her ammunition. Her pupil wandered over the swarm of Forgeries as they shuffled from side to side, maintaining a safe distance. But as Black Rock Shooter's gaze roamed over the crowd, she noticed rather quickly that all of them had taken a similar stance: hunched over with their arms dangling, their fingers curled like they were grasping something invisible. Black Rock Shooter stared at them suspiciously when she finally noticed it – the arc of electricity running down the length of their arms –

"Look out!" Ichigo shouted in a panic.

Before the dark-clothed gunner knew what happened, Ichigo had grasped her by the shoulder and pulled her behind, seconds before the Forgeries suddenly threw their hands out and started shooting lightning from their fingertips. While Black Rock Shooter landed on her butt, Ichigo whipped out his second sword and swung around in a full circle, deflecting all of the lightning bolts with the flat side of his weapons. Ichigo didn't really consider that blocking electricity with a pair of metal swords would be a bad idea, but to his immense relief and surprise, he felt little more than a tingle in his hands when the current traveled down the length of the blades. Their electric powers were incredibly weak – not at all on the same level as….

Black Rock Shooter jumped up and punched him hard in the arm; how could someone so skinny be so strong?

"I'm sorry, I panicked," Ichigo apologized, rubbing the tender spot with his knuckle. "I just saw them attacking and I just – "

Black Rock Shooter made a low growling noise, displaying clear annoyance, but then let out an exasperated sigh and threw her hand up lazily. She returned her focus to the Forgeries, who were now fully displaying their electrical powers with lightning traveling up and down the length of their exposed arms. Black Rock Shooter grunted and made a fist.

"Yeah, they're different from the characters in Deadman Wonderland, but they're not that much stronger," said Ichigo, nodding. "They're charge is really weak – it's really no different than them trying to use their blood powers, but I guess it's faster."

Black Rock Shooter grunted, cocking her cannon.

"Really? That attack looked familiar to you?" Ichigo asked curiously. "Can you remember where?"

Black Rock Shooter hummed…then shook her head.

"Well, I guess we can figure that out later," said Ichigo, taking a stance. "Let's just worry about these guys and then we can work it out afterwards."

Black Rock Shooter grunted and nodded in agreement.

The Forgeries threw another volley of electricity at the duo, but Ichigo had already taken to the skies and Black Rock Shooter dropped down on all-fours, the static brushing her long hair with a slight tingle. The dark gunner immediately shot another black rock at the group in front of her, shattering at least three Forgery's legs, making them fall over helplessly. Black Rock Shooter bounced up to her feet and made a mad dash into the crowd, skillfully weaving in between the lightning bolts. When she reached the edge of the circle, Black Rock Shooter ground her heel into the dirt, pivoted, and swung her cannon in a wide arc that sent several Forgeries flying; their cracking bones echoing painfully across the wasteland as they hit the ground. When they tried to get back up, Black Rock Shooter mercilessly shot a single bullet at each one of their heads, splattering their blood across the ground.

The soldiers that she had missed dashed backwards, possibly thinking that by putting some distance between them and that cannon, they could increase their chances of survival. They certainly wasted no time hurling bolts of lightning at the cold-blooded warrior, not even taking the time to charge their attacks out of desperation. Black Rock Shooter's flaming eye noticed their attack before they had thrown the first shot – one of its assumed powers was foresight in battle – and immediately plowed her cannon into the ground so that it was standing straight up. She climbed on top of her signature weapon before flipping backwards over the electric volley; her rock cannon taking the charge and dispersing it into the ground. Black Rock Shooter and flipped around in midair and reached into her coat as she glided towards one of the Forgeries.

Quick as a flash, Black Rock Shooter landed directly behind the offending soldier…whose head rolled off its shoulders and its body collapsed forward. Black Rock Shooter spun around quickly, her coat whipping in the air, brandishing a katana forged from black steel. The Forgeries stepped back in fright; Black Rock Shooter growled before charging ahead.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the battlefield….

" _ **Getsuga Tensho**_!" Ichigo roared as he slashed the air once more, rending four more Forgeries into meaty chunks.

Ichigo took a deep, exhaustive breath. These Forgeries weren't particularly tough compared to all the Hollows and Arrancar he fought, but they were persistent and worked well in greater numbers. Luckily, thanks to his and Black Rock Shooter's combined skills and generally being OPAF, they dwindled the enemy's numbers down to less than a dozen. The remaining Forgeries stepped sideways in circles around the Substitute Shinigami, some of them crackling with electricity and others cutting themselves to let their blood flow freely. Ichigo took another deep breath, relaxing himself…then renewed his grip on his Zanpakuto and glared at them.

"Waddya waitin' for?" he said challengingly. "Bring it - "

One of the Forgeries had already thrown a bolt of lightning even before he finished getting his words out; Ichigo narrowly dodged it over his should as he spun around on his heel. The Substitute Shinigami slashed his long sword against the ground, uprooting a large chunk of stone that smashed the Forgery in the face, knocking it to the ground unconscious. Another Forgery came from his right side swinging a solidified blade of blood overhead, but Ichigo blocked it with his long sword, then sliced the soldier's neck with his short sword. He quickly pivoted around to slash another oncoming Forgery across the face before ducking a bolt of lightning aimed at the back of his head; Ichigo retaliated with another _**Getsuga Tensho,**_ bisecting the soldier diagonally. He deflected another lightning bolt with Zanpakuto while a Forgery jumped at him from the side with three solidified claws on each arm, but Ichigo sliced its arms off before stabbing the soldier in the chest with his short sword.

One by one, the Substitute Shinigami was cutting through his forces with quick movements and coordinated strikes – not a single move was waste whether it was attacking or defending. Even when one of the Forgeries send one of its bloody snakes to slither stealthily towards Ichigo's feet while he was occupied with fighting, the orange-haired warrior managed to spot it and behead the snake before jumping back into the fight without missing a beat. Within ten minutes, Ichigo had reduced the number of Forgeries down to a measly three.

He weaved his way through the hailstorm of electric bullets being shot by the last Forgeries, instantly closing the distance between them and spearing his swords through the two on either side and staring down the last one in the middle. The final Forgery summoned a wide blade of solidified blood from its forearm as Ichigo pulled his swords from the dead soldiers. Both fighters swung their weapons –

 _ **BAM!**_

Ichigo stumbled back with a surprised and frightened yelp, his front completely splattered in blood. The Forgery's head had inexplicably exploded; its body dropped sideways like a dead weight. And standing not a few feet away was Black Rock Shooter, the barrel of her cannon smoking. It didn't take much to figure out what happened.

"I had him, you know?" Ichigo groaned. He tried wiping the blood off his clothes, but only succeeded in smearing it in more. "Aw great, now it's gonna stain. I hope you have money for dry cleaning, Black?"

Black Rock Shooter stared at Ichigo…then gave him a very rude finger gesture.

"Okay, that's seriously uncalled for!" yelled Ichigo angrily.

"Those worthless sacks of meat," Mirai growled furiously, surveying the scene with his fists clenched. "A waste of cloning material and Nameless Worms…. I'll gave to punish that girl severely for producing such pathetic copies…."

"It's over, whoever you are!" Ichigo yelled, jabbing his sword at Mirai. "All your goons are finished! You've got nothing left!"

"Is that right?" said Mirai in a low voice. "Well, you know what they say: if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

The enigmatic leader stomped his foot on the Retcon Bomb; the casing opened wide, exposing the pulsating core and the countdown timer that was starting from one minute. Ichigo and Black Rock Shooter gasped and felted an unexplainable sense of dread.

"In one minute, you'll be erased just like your precious Soul Society," Mirai declared boastfully. The enigmatic humanoid chuckled as Ichigo and Black Rock Shooter both attacked the bomb with their signature moves, but the dark matter machine remained unscratched. "It's pointless; the Retcon energy cannot be destroyed. You both did well to get this far. I would say I will remember you…but no one will after today…. Good-bye, Ichigo Kurosaki, Black Rock Shooter – "

"WE'RE NOT GIVING UP JUST YET!"

Ichigo, Black Rock Shooter, and Mirai nearly jumped out of their skins; the shout was ear-shatteringly loud and came at a completely unexpected time. Mirai craned his head around behind him towards the source, but the only thing he saw was a blur of black-and-blue before something crashed into the Retcon Bomb beneath his feet. The enigmatic leader let out a shuddering gasp as his bomb fell to the ground…and then split into two equal pieces. Both halves of the explosive landed with dull thuds, wires sparking, and the dark matter fizzled to nothing. The Retcon Bomb had been destroyed, and the man responsible for it landed next to it a moment afterwards.

He was a very short man – equal in height to the very short Black Rock Shooter – with an unnaturally muscular body and messy ash-blond hair held in place by a black headband with a golden bull emblem. His clothing consisted of a dirty white tunic underneath a raggedy set of dark-blue jacket and pants. A leather belt was wrapped around his waist with a deep pouch big enough to hold a book – a tattered, dirt-covered book that was floating next to him and giving off a menacing-red aura. He carried an equally dirty broadsword that was just as big as him, but lifted it with one hand so effortlessly.

He pointed up at Mirai, leering, and yelled, "You're not hurting anyone again, you hear me, you creep?"

 **ASTA (Black Clover)**

Mirai ignored Asta's declaration for he was preoccupied with the severed halves of his Retcon Bomb.

"That's supposed to be impossible," Mirai muttered to himself. "How could he have…? Wait a minute…that boys is…," He turned his head around, staring down at Asta. "Yes, I remember, that boy is new to Animatia. He's the one who can wield weapons that can destroy magic. As long as he is around…he can destroy the Retcon energy at any time – "

But the leader of the Forgeries was snapped out of his monologue when Ichigo slashed the air and Black Rock Shooter fired another flaming bullet, trying to take advantage of his distraction. Mirai floated out of the way of the attacks, hovered over the wasteland for a moment, considering his option, then spun around and flew off past the mountains in the blink of an eye.

"Hey, get back here, you jerk!" shouted Asta irritably, waving his sword around. "We're not done here!"

"Give it up, kid, he's long gone by now," said Ichigo, replacing his swords back in their places. Black Rock Shooter did the same, tucking her sword under her coat and putting the cannon on her back (even though there was nothing to hold it in place). "You're Asta, right? From that new anime – Black Clover? Thanks for the assist. Don't know what would've happened if we let that bomb go off. We owe you one."

"Aw, you don't owe me anything," said Asta cheerfully. "I just thought you guys could use the help. Sorry it took so long to get here – it took forever to climb over those mountains."

Black Rock Shooter grunted, gesturing with her chin.

"That's a good question, Black," said Ichigo. "How did you know where to find us?"

"YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT?" Asta yelled, bug-eyed and bewildered.

"We've been hanging out for years, so I kinda get her," said Ichigo. "He's not that complicated to understand – and she's awesome at Karaoke."

Black Rock Shooter grunted and gave a thumbs-up.

"Huh, I never would've guessed," said Asta, blinking owlishly, then turning to Ichigo. "Anyway, about your question. I was on a mission for Captain Yami when I saw these explosions going off over the mountains – and I mean HUGE explosions! Like, at least a hundred feet tall! I got worried someone might have gotten hurt, so I started climbing and ended up here."

"Well, it's a good thing you showed up when you did," said Ichigo appreciatively. "Our attacks didn't even make a dent in that bomb of his."

Black Rock Shooter grunted again.

"Huh…yeah, that's a good point?" Ichigo said, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "How come your sword could cut that bomb when our weapons couldn't touch it? Is there something different about yours?"

"Er, I don't know," said Asta, shrugging his shoulders as he held up his sword. "Well, all my weapons use anti-magic, so I guess that makes it different."

Black Rock Shooter's eyes went wide at the new information and turned to Ichigo, grunting.

"I think you're right, Black," said Ichigo seriously. "Our weapons couldn't break that bomb's energy, but Asta's sword could. That means these…Retcon Bombs are using a magical energy source. This is bad."

"Huh, why's it bad?" asked Asta, tilting his head confused.

"Because it means that Mirai is using magic to erase people from everyone's memories," said Ichigo, frowning. "I don't think Mirai can use magic himself, that's why he's using the Retcon Bombs, so that means he's working with something who has enough magical power to affect the entire planet. And there's only one person who fits that bill – "

And then, for the first time, B;lack Rock Shooter uttered a single word: "Zeref…"

* * *

 **[Ichigo Kurosaki, Black Rock Shooter, and Asta have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	10. Dinos & Scissors

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Ten: Dinos & Scissors**

* * *

On the shore opposite of the Japari Park Lake where the battle between Frieza and the three heroes took place, a lone man stood near the edge, letting the water lap at his feet. He was of short statue that even characters like Asta and Black Root Shooter dwarfed him, and his impressively bald head reflected the rays of the sun painfully to anyone that looked directly at it. But besides his comedic appearance, he some the same orange turtle gi as Goku as a testament to his martial arts prowess.

 **KRILLIN (Dragon Ball Z)**

"All right, Krillin, this is it," Krillin said to himself. "Your big chance to prove that you're still a hero. Goku is out there fighting that bad guys, so it's only natural that his best friend should be there by his side. Of course, you did just seen Goku get thrashed on TV by so third-class villain from a short anime series that no one probably remembers even though it was only out a year ago – NO!, No, you are not gonna psyche yourself out this time, Krillin! Goku needs your help! It's your duty as a friend, and as a husband and father, to make sure that everyone stays safe! I'll take on those bad guys, no matter how tough they – "

The bald fighter stopped himself when he felt something tap against his foot and looked down. Curiously, he saw a metallic ball with neon-pink lines vibrating momentarily…before it exploded in a flash of pink light. The next thing he knew, Krillin was encased in a thick layer of pink crystals, his expression frozen in one of momentary fright. The man responsible for Krillin's new cage stepped lightly off the path behind him, staring at his new trophy with a curious hum.

A tall, plain-looking man with short, shaggy dark hair and thin black eyes, he wore a high-collared black and tan robe with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. He touched the crystal statue gently and smiled in satisfaction.

"Yes, we will do fine," he said.

 **ZEREF DRAGNEEL (Fairy Tail)**

Using telekinetic magic, Zeref lifted Krillin's statue into the air, floated it over so that it was sitting in the middle of the road, and then set it down gently. Zeref understood that his plan was rather simple and that a normal person would never fall for such an obvious ploy, but that's exactly why he chose this spot – because the person he was targeting wasn't known for their intelligence. He brushed a little dirt off Krillin's statue – he had respect for the veteran – when he heard the roar of revving engine and cast an invisibility spell on himself to hide out of sight.

Appearing over the hill was Haruko riding wildly on her vespa, dragging along a truck bed holding the statues of Satsuki Kiryuin and Diana Cavendish she had collected from her recent exploits at Luna Nova and the now forgotten Papaya Island. She was practically flying off the hills when he eyes landed on Krillin's frozen form, just sitting out in the open, waiting for someone like her to take it. Haruko grinned proudly at herself, bringing her vespa to a screeching stop; the statues in the truck bed wobbled dangerously, but stayed in place.

"Aw, sweet!" said Haruko. "Someone just left this loser in the middle of the road! He's probably not on the list, but the boss isn't gonna complain if I bring in a couple extra. Might even get me some brownie points with captain glowstick."

The wild rider hopped off her scooter and practically skipped over to Krillin's statue, humming happily to herself. She stretched her hands out – her fingers flexing in a creepy way – and was only a couple inches from grabbing it when all of a sudden…she couldn't move. Haruko grunted as she trying to force her way forward; she was so close, it was just too cruel!

"What the hell is goin' on here!" She shouted angrily. " Who did this?"

"You always were the most gullible one of the group," said Zeref tauntingly, dropping the invisibility spell, which incited a gasp Haruko.

"You!" Haruko snarled. "Traitor! You got some balls showing yourself after you ditched us! When he start moving again – "

"Which won't happen for at least another hour," said Zeref mockingly. He picked up Krillin's statue, earning a whine from Haruko, and tossed it with the others the wild woman had already collected. He seated himself on the woman's vespa, looking very out of place, especially when he put on the yellow helmet. "When you see Mirai again, please tell him I send my condolences."

"Hey, get your ass off my ride!" Haruko roared, but was muted by the screeching of her vespa's wheels at it took off down the road, Zeref and the trophies with it. "When I catch you, I'm gonna throttle your immortal neck, you hear me! ….Aw man, I'm totally gonna get yelled at for this."

* * *

Deep in the Makinata Forest, there is a city so tiny that a normal-sized person could cross the entire thing in two steps. It was a city for the Little People – humanlike creatures that were only nine centimeters tall and made a secret home inside the woods away from the dangers of the Tall People. Even after their brief anime, they managed to hide themselves well when the Tall People started looking for them out of curiosity. To this day, only a select number of people were trusted with the location of the City of Little People…and one of them just stabbed their scissor blade through the last Forgery's chest, the masked soldier making a lot of croaking sounds before it went limp. The avenger ripped her red-metal scissor blade out of the Forgery's chest and added its corpse to the pile nearby.

The Tall Person was a lanky sort of girl with mid-length black hair with a single left-swept red highlight on her bangs; her deep-blue eyes have peculiar gear-shaped pupils with eight grooves around the edges. Her clothing looked like a very distinctive navy-blue sailor uniform but her ribbon resembled a demonic eye on her left breast while the other was covered by a black eyepatch-like cloth and she wore a red, fingerless glove with a pin at the wrist on her left hand. The dark-haired schoolgirl twirled her scissor blade with her finger, somehow managing to shrink it down to the size of a regular scissor, and slipped it into the holster tied to her belt, wiping the sweat from her brow in satisfaction.

"Whelp, that should be the last of them," she said proudly.

 **RYUKO MATOI (Kill La Kill)**

" **Hmm, how strange,** " Ryuko's sailor uniform, Senketsu, hummed thoughtfully, his eye rolling over the Forgery corpses. " **Kamui like Junketsu and I drink blood in order to trigger our powers, but these masked people seemed to use blood as a direct weapon instead of a medium. I've never heard of such a thing.** "

"You've been in my dad's basement way too long," said Ryuko. "These guys are obviously from Deadman Wonderland. It's a super sick anime that's even more bloody and violent than ours. It's totally awesome! But…I've never seen any of these people before in the anime. Maybe they're from the manga."

" **Have you ever read the manga?** " asked Senketsu.

"Nah, I'm one of those lazy types who just wait for the anime or movie to come out," said Ryuko lazily, folding her hands behind her head. "You know, those kinds of people who bitch to other people about spoiling an anime even though the manga has already finished over a year ago."

" **Wait, are you insult the fans or yourself?** " asked Senketsu, confused.

At that time, two Little People walked out onto a tree branch that was level with Ryuko's head, attracting the Tall Person's attention with a sideways glance. Two little woman – one with silky black hair and the other with choppy red hair – walked to the very end of the branch, one more cautious then the other, both wearing tribal-styled dressed and puffy hats. The little redhead waved Ryuko over while her dark-haired companion clung to her hand, shooting several glances at the very thin branch they were on and the five-foot drop to the ground.

"Hey, Hakumei, Mikochi, everything okay down there?" Ryuko asked the Little People.

"A lotta people are shaken up, but everyone's safe," said the redhead, Hakumei. "I'm pretty sure Konju passed over when those things suddenly appeared over the town."

"Thank you for saving us, Ryuko-san," said the dark-haired woman, Mikochi. "We would have been crushed if you hadn't been visiting. Us lesser-known anime doesn't have a whole lot to stand on compared to you big-time anime stars."

"Aw, I think you guys are pretty cool," said Ryuko kindly. "People just don't understand how great slice of life really is. But still," she turned her head to the pile of Forgery bodies, "where did they come from? Deadman Wonderland should be on the complete opposite side of the continent. How did a whole bunch of them get over to Makinata Forest without people noticing they were coming?"

"I think they dropped out of that huge black bird that was flying over before they showed up," said Hakumei.

" **Huge black bird?** " asked Senketsu; Ryuko repeated the question since no one else could hear him.

"Yeah, it was waaaay big," said Hakumei, stretching her arms out to emphasis her point. "And it was black and shiny; it looked like it was made of metal. And it had this fire coming out of the back of it and was shooting arrows made of light and it dropped a whole ton of those masked Tall People all over our forest."

" **Sounds like they're talking about an airship,** " said Senketsu.

"Was thinking the same thing," Ryuko muttered to Senketsu, then turned back to the Little People. "You know which way the giant bird went?"

"It looked like it was headed east by southeast," said Mikochi, pointing in the direction. "It looked like it was headed toward the desert."

" **The desert?** " said Senketsu questionably. " **There's nothing out there but old ruins used for exploratory anime.** "

"Well, that's where we're headed," said Ryuko. She turned around, but paused for a moment to wave at the Little People. "You guys stay safe now, ya hear?"

"See ya, Ryuko!" Hakumei waved enthusiastically.

"Come back to visit soon!" said Mikochi.

The dark-haired delinquent set off in the direction Mikochi had pointed out, stepping over exposed roots and pushing through the hazardous path of thorny bushes and low branches.

" **A bunch of masked strangers with powers from a specific anime, but far away from their point of origin dropping out of a ship headed in the direction of the desert** ," Senketsu recounted the events, humming thoughtfully. " **No matter how you word it, that sounds like something invaders would do. Does Deadman Wonderland have anything to do with conquering kingdoms or fighting wars for territory?** "

"Nah, the whole story is basically set in one place," said Ryuko, kicked a particularly prickly bush aside.

" **And what do they do at this place?** " asked Senketsu.

"Well, all of the main cast are people who were thrown in prison for crimes they never committed and have to kill each other to live," said Ryuko.

" **So it's basically your sister's school, but with bars,** " said Senketsu.

"Pretty much," said Ryuko shortly.

But as she begrudgingly trudged through the forest, she unknowingly walked past a stump in the ground that was being used as a bed for a strange-looking creature. The monster – for a lack of a better word – looked like a child-sized tyrannosaurus with leathery-orange skin, a stubby tail, and three sharp claws on each of its hands and feet. The simple-looking dinosaur was sleeping away the afternoon, snoring loudly, yet completely unheard by Ryuko, who was too enthralled in her conversation with Senketsu.

 **AGUMON (Digimon)**

The dino Digimon mumbled in his sleep, his tongue lolling out of his wide mouth, when something whiffed pasted his snout. It smelled delicious – a combination of fried and oily foods saturated in heavy scents of grilled meat. The smell awoke Agumon right away, the dino shooting up straight and looking around wildly for the origin source. His eyes fell upon Ryuko, who was walking away still mumbling to herself, and then on the clothed box hanging from her waist. That was definitely a bento box. Agumon licked his lips and hopped off the stump –

"Ya know, it's weird that I haven't gotten a call from sis yet," Ryuko said to Senketsu, frowning with her arms crossed. "Ever since the series finale, she's been way overprotective that she usually calls me every day just to make sure I'm all right. But she hasn't said anything in two days. I'm actually starting to get worried."

" **Satsuki spent her whole life thinking her sister was dead,** " said Senketsu sympathetically. " **You can't blame her for feeling a little concerned about you.** "

"Yeah, I guess," Ryuko mumbled. Just then, her stomach made a loud rumbling sound; Ryuko held her belly, red-faced. "Oh man, I didn't realize how starving I was."

" **You were busy fighting off those masked men attacking our friends,** " said Senketsu. " **And I doubt they had enough foot proportionate to your size.** "

"Hey, it's no problem," said Ryuko, grinning to herself. "Luckily, Mako's mom gave me some of her mystery croquettes before we left. Now is as good as any time for a quick lunch break – "

But when the delinquent swordfighter reached around for her delectable, if not questionable, lunch, she felt nothing but air where her bento should have been. She looked down at her waist, only confirming that her lunch was indeed missing, and started spinning around in circles with hunger-induced panic. Her gaze quickly fell on Agumon; the orange dinosaur was sitting in the middle of the dirt path with _her_ bento in his lap, already halfway through the box. He used his claws to skewer the unidentifiable meat product and popped them in his mouth, humming delightfully as the surprisingly savory flavor hit his taste buds.

"Mmm, this is really good," Agumon hummed delightfully. "Don't know what's in it, but it sure is tasty."

The orange dinosaur then heard someone walk up to him, looked over, and nearly jumped back in shock. Ryuko was crouched down to his level, her eyes wide and bloodshot, fuming in silent rage.

"If you take one more bite," Ryuko muttered in a soft, threatening tone, "I will skin you alive and wear you as a pair of ugly orange boots."

A pregnant pause of uncomfortable silence passed between them as Agumon stared at the delinquent unblinkingly…. Then he tilted his head back and swallowed the entire contents of the bento in one gulp, which earned and stunned cry from Ryuko. Agumon exhaled with a contented sigh, turning back to Ryuko and said, "I'm not even sorry."

"YOU DAMN ORANGE BARNEY WANNABE!" Ryuko shrieked furiously, whipping out her scissor blade at full size. "I'LL TURN YOU INTO MYSTERY CROQUETTES MYSELF!"

The short-tempered delinquent took a swing at Agumon, who yelped fretfully and fell backwards, his snort missing the razor edge of the scissor by a hair's breadth. His giant emerald eyes rolled over watching Ryuko's sword slice through a thick oak tree like a hot knife through butter, causing it to fall sideways and hit the ground with an earthshaking thud. Sweat started to pour down Agumon's forehead like raindrops. He was starting to think that maybe stealing this girl's lunch might not have been the best idea.

Ryuko flipped her blade around and thrust it downward, stabbing the dirt where Agumon had been seconds before. The orange dinosaur Digimon had rolled out of the way, scrambled to his massive feet, and sprinted at fullo speed through the trees, screaming and flailing his arms in the air.

"You're not getting away from me, you bastard!" Ryuko screamed before giving chase.

Agumon may have gotten a good running start, but Ryuko had longer legs and a hell of amount of stamina that she caught up with him in ten seconds flat. When swung for his head, Agumon leaned forward; when she swiped at his leg, he jumped over; and when she stabbed at his back, he jiggled back and forth like a very unattractive belly dancer. The two of them repeated the motions for five straight minutes, Agumon barely managing to keep a few feet ahead of her and Ryuko cutting down dozens of trees along the way. Agumon whined as he hopped over a small boulder, thinking it would slow her down for a few seconds, but Ryuko ended up slicing _through_ the rock and continuing her pursuit without missing a beat.

Why was this girl so persistent, Agumon asked himself? Whenever he stole food from that kid with the goggles that he didn't bother remembering the name of, he got upset but never did anything more than pout. Then again, he was just a weak, scrawny, useless boy who never did anything more than scream like an annoying gnat while Agumon was doing all the real work. And he definitely wasn't a busty high school girl that could swing around a deadly scissor blade.

Agumon was breathing heavy, not used to running for this long in his current form, but he was afraid to stop in fear of the wild delinquent girl on his back. As he considered just dropping to his knees and beg for mercy, Agumon suddenly sensed something and came to an immediate halt. Ryuko, not expecting the dinosaur to suddenly stop, hit the back of his head with her knees and flipped overhead, landing hard on her back. The high school delinquent groaned as she sat up, rubbing the sore spot on her butt, and flipped around to glare at him.

"You're really starting to piss me off, you know that?" Ryuko snarled. Agumon shushed her, much to Ryuko's surprise. "Don't you tell me to – "

" **Wait, Ryuko, listen,** " Senketsu interjected with a serious tone. " **Do you hear that?** "

Ryuko frowned at her uniform, but stopped and cupped a hand around her ears trying to hone in on what they were both hearing. It was faint, but she could definitely hear something – it was a quick buzzing noise. It's just a bunch of insects, though Ryuko, shaking her head. There was nothing strange about that; they were in the middle of the forest, after all. But before she could voice her thoughts, Ryuko felt Senketsu shudder against her skin, something he only did when there was real danger nearby. Ryuko listened again and realized that the buzzing was becoming even stronger. It was not only getting louder, but Ryuko could distinctly tell that this sound was being created by only one bug, which meant that it had to be huge to make this much noise.

Ryuko scrambled to her feet, picking up her scissor blade, and stood ready to fight. She could feel Agumon brushing up against her legs, his back against hers and growling like a guard dog; he must have sensed the same thing she did. The two of them shifted uncertainly on their feet, looking back and forth as the buzzing noise reached a level so high that it started to rattle the Life Fibers under Ryuko's skin. And then, the noise just suddenly…stopped. Completely disappeared. The forest had turned unsettlingly silent; not even the normal sized bugs were buzzing.

Ryuko grimaced and looked over her shoulder back at Agumon…who suddenly tackled Ryuko from behind and pushed her to the ground. Ryuko flipped around, kicking the orange dinosaur, and opened her mouth to yell at him when she noticed the massive, bright-red claw that had stabbed the dirt where she had been standing. The pincer struggled with the dirt, tugging a few times before getting free, and then its full body emerged, towering over the protagonists.

It looked like a giant stag beetle in Ryuko's opinion, only it was standing on two legs and had a ruby-red shell; four arms sprouted from its sides, each with three flexible claws, and a pair of extra-long mandibles growing out of the sides of its eyeless face. Ryuko shuffled back up to her feet again, gripping her scissor blade in the giant insect's direction, before she was joined by Agumon, who was sporting a dirty footprint between his eyes, as the gargantuan insect stomped closer toward them, making the ground quake with each footfall. If Ryuko hadn't already faced her fair share of giant monsters (and Gamagori's inexplicable size changing ability), she might have felt worried.

"Friend of yours?" she asked Agumon.

"That's Kuwagamon,an evil Digimon who's been a real pest ever since the first episode," said Agumon, sneering. "No matter how many times we kick his butt, he always wants to come back for me. That guy is really starting to bug me."

"Dude, insect puns, really?" said Ryuko, staring disappointedly at the dino.

"Blame the crappy dub writers," said Agumon.

" **Scissor Hands!** "

The insectoid Digimon shouted out its attack, snapping its mandibles threateningly, and lunged forward at the pair. Agumon yelped like a frightened puppy and bounced out of the way, but Ryuko stayed her ground, holding the flat side of her scissor blade in a defensive position. The two clash; sparks showered the ground as Kuwagamon's pincer's scrapped against the scissor blade's steel. If Ryuko thought she could fight off the giant insect with brute strength, she was sorely mistaken – Kuwagamon's massive size effortlessly pushed the delinquent backwards, dragging her heels through the dirt. And yet, somehow, when Ryuko pressed her left foot into the ground and raised her right to push against her scissor blade, Kuwagamon's advances suddenly stopped. The giant stag beetle growled in a low, rumbling voice, his whole body shivering and he shoved against the human, but Ryuko wouldn't budge. She grinned up at him confidently.

"Calling out your attacks?" Ryuko said tauntingly. "That is the lamest thing you could ever do as an anime character – "

" **But don't you always call out your finishing moves?** " Senketsu pointed out.

"I'm trying to insult the bad guy here!" Ryuko hissed at her uniform, then looked back up at Kuwagamon. "And you call those scissors? Totally bogus. I only have half a pair of scissors and I'm way tougher than – "

But in between holding off the monster's pincers and mocking him, Ryuko had completely forgotten about Kuwagamon's four very big, very muscular arms until one of them swung around from her left side and slammed into her rib cage, making her bones shake on impact. She smashed through a very thick tree, toppling the mighty oak, and bounced off the dirt once…twice…. But then she stubbornly rolled right back onto her feet and ran back at the insectoid Digimon with a determined grunt.

Ryuko jumped sideways when Kuwagamon slammed one of his fists down on her, then bounced back in the other direction when the second fell on her. Kuwagamon reached out to grab her with his second set of limbs, but Ryuko effortlessly jumped over its claws, landing on them, and started running up the length of its arm. Kuwagamon turned its head toward Ryuko as she approached, snapping his pincers furiously, but Ryuko once again bounded over the Digimon's attack and used its mandibles as a stepping stone to leap for Kuwagamon's face. Ryuko roared with determination as she slashed her scissor blade across the monster's eyeless face; her Life Fiber sword cut a deep gouge in the insectoid's shell, but didn't slice through completely.

"Damn, that thing's tough," Ryuko said as she landed safely on the ground. "And I thought my scissor blade could cut through anything."

" **It was designed for cutting Life Fibers because it's made from Life Fibers,** " said Senketsu, " **and since you're half Life Fiber yourself, you're stronger than normal humans. It's easy to get the impression that you're strong enough to cut just about anything. But this…Digimon isn't like you and me. We have no idea what they're made of or what they're capable of. We should have watched more of their anime….** "

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't even get past the first episode," Ryuko complained, running a hand down her face. "I mean, seriously, what are those kids even there for? They just stand around and do nothing. They're as useless as Pokemon trainers."

" **And you've probably just triggered more than half the audience right now,** " said Senketsu.

Kuwagamon stomped forward several paces, rattling Ryuko and Senketsu out of their disagreement, and raised its claws threateningly when a small fireball smacked against the side of the insectoid's head. The tiny flame didn't hurt Kuwagamon, but it did leave a tiny scorch mark on its armor that it didn't appreciate. The giant insect turned. It and Ryuko spotted Agumon snarling up at Kuwagamon, taking a deep breath, and exhaling another little fireball.

" **Pepper Breath!** " he shouted out loud.

The tiny flame flew into Kuwagamon's armored face and left behind another little scorch mark. The giant insectoid Digimon didn't move, as if too stupefied to comprehend the orange dinosaur's existence. Agumon started to breath yet another fireball when Kuwagamon's claw swiped across the air in a red-and-black blur and smacked Agumon away, sending him flying deeper into the forest. Ryuko heard the little dino's scream getting father away until they were silenced by a dull, echoing thud.

"That went about as well as expected," Ryuko commented.

" **You could at least commend him for his efforts,** " Senketsu scolded her.

"Yeah, whatever," said Ryuko, shrugging her shoulders and turning back to Kuwagamon. "Let's hurry up and squash this guy so that we can go get lunch."

" **I thought we were chasing after the airship,** " said Senketsu questionably.

"That too," Ryuko added.

Kuwagamon thundered back around towards Ryuko, howling like the mindless beast that it was, and lunged at her with its snapping mandibles. She hopped backwards as the giant insectoid stabbed the ground, stood up with a large chuck of rock clamped between its pincers, and crushed it between with a quick flex of its jaw. At the same time, Ryuko had rushed ahead without Kuwagamon's notice and was now standing in the monster's shadow behind its legs. Since cutting the red parts didn't work, Ryuko thought, she could try cutting the black parts instead.

She sliced her scissor blade across the back of Kuwagamon's leg and became satisfied when a large gash appeared in the dark-colored flesh, spilling out a small trickle of green blood. The giant insectoid Digimon hissed and fell forward on bended knee. Ryuko ran around him and dashed for the exposed parts in Kuwagamon's neck, but the giant insectoid Digimon lashed his arms around, smacking Ryuko in a blur of motion and threw her into the trees. But Ryuko flipped herself in the air, planted her feet against the trunk, and kicked off back towards Kuwagamon. The bug Digimon, now standing back on both feet, turned around as Ryuko rocketed his way, throwing two of its fists at the delinquent. But Ryuko threw her hand out, planting it on top of Kuwagamon's knuckles, and pulled herself over, dodging the punch. She then spins around, her hand still on Kuwagamon's and manages to pull off a very difficult spin that gives her the perfect angle on Kuwagamon's exposed arm muscles, slicing them down the middle with her scissor blade.

Kuwagamon's painfilled shrieked made the surrounding trees quiver as Ryuko flung herself back to the ground when the insect Digimon's second set of hands reached for her. The giant monster held its bleeding wrist and stepped away slightly, its left leg limping from where Ryuko had cut it. The high school delinquent smiled to herself in a most satisfactory way while she decided where her next target would be. After slicing up a few small parts in its arms and legs, Ryuko thought it was to go bigger – namely, the huge exposed portion in its chest.

Ryuko rushed forward with a righteous battle cry – Kuwagamon noticeably not trying to defend himself – jumped toward the insectoid monster, and slashed her scissor blade around its midsection. But halfway through her swing, Kuwagamon's back flew open, exposing its tattered wings, which started beating at a hundred miles per hour. Th gust generated by the Digimon's wings, propelled Ryuko away, who was able to catch himself and land on the ground with her heels dragging across the dirt. The delinquent shooked her head and looked up, spying Kuwagamon ascending over the tree tops, buzzing loudly, out of Ryuko's reach. Ryuko stomped her foot, growling in annoyance, and pointed her scissor blade at it.

"Hey, no fair, that's cheating!" Ryuko complained. "Get your ass down here so I can kick it!"

" **I don't think that's going to work,** " said Senketsu, sweat dropping.

"Aw, whatever, he's not the first flying asshole we've fought," said Ryuko, grimacing, shoulder her scissor blade. "If that jackass thinks he can just fly away, he's got another thing coming. You ready, Senketsu?"

" **I've been waiting for this moment since the fight started,** " said Senketsu.

Ryuko flashed a cocky grin up at Kuwagamon as she raised her left hand, showing off her fingerless glove, grabbing the pin on the side, and shouted:

"Life Fiber Synchonize: Kamui Sen – "

 _ **Thud!**_

Ryuko nearly fell over as the ground quaked violently; she leaned against a tree to support herself -

 _ **Thud!**_

The ground quivered again; birds and insects alike that weren't scared away by Kuwagamon had taken flight out of the general vicinity –

 _ **THUD!**_

That one was the loudest thus far; Ryuko lost her grip on the trees and fell to her hands and knees, her whole body shivering along with the seismic tremors. Kuwagamon descended back on the ground, visibly trembling in a way that Ryuko suspected had nothing to do with the ground quakes. Another set of tremors were accompanied by what sounded like several trees being ripped up by their roots, falling over and crashing to the ground. Ryuko fell back on her butt and stared with wide eyes and a dropped jaw as another monster shredded through the trees, tackling Kuwagamon and flinging the giant insectoid backwards into more trees, destroying even more of terrain until they had made a small clearing.

The second monster was just as big as Kuwagamon, standing at an intimidating twenty feet tall, and resembled a hulking tyrannosaurus marked with dozens of blues stripes running from its neck to the tip of its tail. Its pearl-white claws were at least a foot long, its teeth looking like rows of daggers, and seemed to wear a grey helmet with three long horns. And while Kuwagamon struggled to regain its footing, the massive dinosaur turned its burning-red eye on Ryuko. The high school delinquent raised her scissor blade in defense when the dinosaur spoke to her in a deep, rumbling voice:

"Hey, if I beat this guy, will this make up for eating your lunch?"

"My lunch?" Ryuko repeated, blinking cluelessly. "What are you…. Wait a minute," she gasped as a wave of recognition washed over her. "You…you're that little lizard guy, Uh…Agumon?"

"I'm Greymon now," Greymon rumbled.

"Well, whoever you are, if you can get rid of this annoying guy, then we're cool!" said Ryuko, grinning excitedly with a thumbs up. "Show 'em what ya got, big guy!"

Greymon nodded slowly, then turned back to Kuwagamon, who had gotten back to its feet, only for the Jurassic terror to tackle it again, grappling the insectoid with his horn, and fling him into the air. Kuwagamon straighten itself in the air, beating its tattered wings to stabilize its flight. But before the giant insectoid could consider counterattacking, Greymon shouted " **Nova Blast**!" and spat out massive fireball; Ryuko, who had ducked behind one of the trees to stay out of Greymon's way, could feel herself sweating from the heat it was giving off. The fireball hit Kuwagamon squarely in the face and the giant insect Digimon screeched as the flames licked against its armor, blackening its armor and deepening the crack that Ryuko had created earlier in the fight.

The giant insectoid trembled violently – it had been hurt bad – but the monster stubbornly refused to drop and charged headlong into Greymon. The dinosaur Digimon spun around upon Kuwagamon's approach and slapped it across the face with his tail, causing it to stumble sideways. Greymon thud lowered his head and tackled Kuwagamon in the chest, piercing the monster's abdomen with his horn and spraying green blood on the ground. Kuwagamon hissed sporadically as it stretched forward with its dual sets of arms, grappling Greymon by both its shoulders and horns, and rippled the dinosaur Digimon out of its stomach. Greymon had barely pulled away, however, before he breathed another fireball directly into Kuwagamon's chest that pelted the giant insectoid clear across the forest, knocking down what must have been over forty trees along its path.

Greymon narrowed its eyes, staring down the path suspiciously…. Then, Kuwagamon bound back up and practically shot back towards Greymon like a speeding bullet, tackling the dinosaur Digimon with its mandibles tightening around his midsection. The giant insectoid closed its pincers quickly; Greymon howled as Kuwagamon's constricted him like a vice. The ancient Digimon, gnashing teeth, pounded the top of Kuagamon's head with his fist, expanding the cracks on its helmet but unsuccessful in forcing the monster into letting him go free. Kawagamon doubled its jaw strength; Greymon threw his head back and roared, but it came out as a wheezing sound. Kawagamon's pincer was getting tighter…Greymon was starting to lose focus –

"Hey, asshole!" Greymon's eyes went wide as Ryuko Jumped off a tall tree with her scissor blade in hand. "Stop being so clingy!"

She swung her sword down on one of Kuwagamon's pincers, which was made brittle by Greymon's multiple fireballs, and snapped the mandible in half. Kuwagamon shrieked furiously; Greymon took a deep gasp of fresh air before leering down at his enemy. The ancient Digimon slammed his fist across Kuwagamon's face; the impact shattered its already cracked helmet and exposed its fleshy underside. Now that the opportunity had presented itself, Greymon grabbed Kuwagamon by the sides of its head, pressed his snout against his exposed flesh, flames flicking on his lips.

" **Nova Blast!** " he howled.

The fireball all but exploded in Kuwagamon's face due to their short distance. Ryuko shielded her face with her arm, lowered it when the blast had past, and stared openmouthed at the scene. Greymon stood in the middle of the small crater, partially scorched but otherwise unharmed, and Kuwagamon was nowhere to be seen. The ancient dinosaur turned towards Ryuko with thundering footsteps; the high school delinquent let out a loud whoop and bounded over to meet him.

"Hell yeah, that was awesome!" Ryuko shouted enthusiastically. "You're one badass dinosaur, you know that?"

"Heh, thanks," said Greymon bashfully.

" **You know, Ryuko, this Digimon has a lot of power,** " said Senketsu. " **Maybe it would be a good idea to bring him along. Whoever was flying that airship must have a lot of power and resources at their disposal. It wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of hands.** "

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Ryuko nodded to Senketsu, then looked up at Greymon. "Hey, big guy, ya wanna come with me. I headed out to find whoever's been attacking the forest. I could really use a hand from someone as big and tough as you."

"I don't know – "

"I'll throw in another batch of mystery croquettes," Ryuko offered.

"Deal!" Greymon accepted instantly.

" **Never underestimate the power of** **Mrs. Mankanshoku's cooking,** " said Senketsu amusingly; Ryuko snickered.

Greymon lowered himself so that Ryuko could jump on his head, sitting cross-legged between his horns, then began marching through the forest with thunderous footfalls. Their next destination – the desert.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard the Black Star, two Forgeries were walking down the lengthy metal corridor towards the bridge.

"Did you hear about what happened in the mountains, Forgery No. 8412 askes Forgery No. 8482. It would appear that the one called Black Rock Shooter has survived the fall from when we had invaded and commandeered this airship from her, Forgery No. 8412 explains in surprise."

"I have heard that as well, Forgery No. 8482 replies. It surprises Forgery No. 8482 that she managed to survive a fall from that height. I suspect that the one called Black Rock Shooter will attempt to recover the airship that we have stolen."

"Let us hope she is the only surprise, Forgery No. 8412 says exasperatedly."

But as the Forgeries disappear around the corner, they never noticed the shimmering form that blended perfectly with the wall leaning around to watch them go and then stealthily walk in the opposite direction.

* * *

 **[Ryuko Matoi and Agumon have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **And don't forget to cast your votes on the poll at my page to decide who you want to see in the battle rounds in the Contest of Champions.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	11. Fullmetal Railgun

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Eleven: Fullmetal Railgun**

* * *

The Tomb of the Lost was a sanctuary that had been built in remembrance of all the animes who had been forgotten and faded from memory. When it was first built, there had been statues erected in their honor, but as time wore on and animes started being produced by the thousands, they been forced to downgrade and only offer simple memorial inscriptions on the walls. It was a holy site for all anime, knowing they would one day end up on this wall. But in recent times, Mirai had gone on to commit an act of great sacrilege by converting the sacred site into his own research facility. The stone walls that had borne the names of millions of anime had been torn down and replaced with panels of metal, and all the ancient artifacts once used by their ancestors had been thrown into the incinerator the first chance they got.

To see them tarnish such holy grounds without hesitation – it was enough to make his stomach turn.

It had taken nearly an hour to navigate his way through the ventilation system, crawling through narrow tubes covered in dust and spider webs, but he didn't have any other choice; it was the only way he could get into the facility without being spotted. It was a good thing that he was _just_ small enough to fit – not that you would ever hear him admit it. He had no real idea where he was supposed to go, but he just figured he would crawl towards the center of the facility and hope for the best. Not the best plan, he admitted, but it was the only one he got.

He turned another corner in the ventilation shaft, army crawling very slowly so as not to make too much noise, and came up to a grate, peering into the hallway below. There were two Forgeries directly below him, talking, one of them leaning against the wall with their arms crossed. It didn't look like they were going to move any time soon. He furrowed his brow in thought, considering his options. After a moment, he grabbed the bars of the grate and silently strapped to rip it out of the ceiling while the forgeries were unaware –

"Hey, did you see the new episode of One Piece the other day, Forgery No. 11192 asks Forgery No. 11128."

"Of course I wouldn't, Forgery No. 11128 retorts mockingly to Forgery No. 11192's question. Because I have an intelligence quotient higher than two."

"Good point, Forgery No. 11192 responds humorously. You would have to be a complete – "

It happened without warning – someone dropped from the ceiling and stomped the top of the Forgery's heads, one of them harder than the other. The masked soldiers slammed face first into the floor, though the Forgery on the left seemed to hit the ground with enough force to dent the metal paneling; blood trickled out of the side of its head. The Forgery on the right groaned, sitting up while rubbing their throbbing forehead, when someone lifted them up from behind and slammed them into the wall. Before the Forgery could retaliate, the intruder pressed their arm against its neck, pinning them to the wall with their unusually solid limb.

The intruder was a man of short stature – he only came up to the Forgery's chin – with long, golden-blonde hair tied into a low braid, one strand standing up like an antenna, and unnatural gold eyes. He wore a bright red, long-sleeved, hooded cloak emblazoned with a cross with a snake threaded in black on the back, and dressed almost completely in black underneath. But the most notable thing was, in his haste to break into the facility, the man had forgotten his gloves, and exposed the true nature of his right arm. The entire limb was made of solid steel and intricately designed so that every finger could move freely like an actually hand, like something out of a science fiction movie.

 **EDWARD ELRIC (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

"All right, jerk, start talking!" Ed demanded, slamming the Forgery again. "Where's Al."

"Who? Forgery No. 11128 responds in confusion."

"Okay, that third-person speech is really creepy," Ed commented. "But seriously, where's Al! Where're you guys holding my little brother?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Forgery No. 11128 responds."

"Don't lie to me!" Ed roared, slamming the Forgery a third time. "I know you bastards got him! You ambushed us outside the capital and dragged Al away! I followed you here, so where is he?"

"I don't know of any 'Al', Forgery No. 11128 responds in earnest. The only other human that Forgery No. 11128 is aware is the one being kept in the energy core station, Forgery No. 11128 states after thinking for a moment. But that person is – "

"All right, show me," said Ed, pulling the Forgery around and shoving them down the hall. "But if you try anything, I'll kick the crap out of you."

"Forgery No. 11128 has no fear of being beaten, Forgery No. 11128 says with admonishment. For we, the Forgeries, were created for the purpose of being sacrificed for the greater cause. But Forgery No. 11128 will show you anyway."

Ed tilted his head, raising one brow in confusion at the Forgery's nihilistic outlook, but followed them down the hall anyway. There weren't many Forgeries in the base, Ed noticed. His captive explained that the majority of their forces were scattered around Animatia performing their assigned tasks; there were roughly only fifty or so soldiers on-site to handle the production of the Retcon Bombs and the…other project. When Ed inquired what the other project was, the Forgery went strangely mute.

They took two lefts and a right until they reached the elevator, went up one floor, crossed the long hallway, and then took another elevator two floors up. The facility was like a labyrinth, mostly consisting of long hallways and large storage rooms that contained mountains of boxes. As they were passing by, Ed noticed that one of the storage rooms had boxes filled with artifacts once used by mecha animes – it wasn't his favorite genre by far, but it made his blood boil knowing that they were trashing ancient history. But Ed couldn't dwell on that right now; he needed to find his baby brother and get the hell out of here. Let the other heroes worry about this….

Ed and the Forgery turned right down another corridor when the masked soldier suddenly came to a stop, making their captor bump into them. Ed leaned around the Forgery and spotted the large, hexagonal steel door that covered the right wall. Bold black letters were painted on the face that read 'Energy Core Station'.

"This is where the other human is, Forgery No. 11128 informs their captor with reluctance. If Forgery No. 11128 is remembering correctly, Forgeries No. 12231, No. 12232, and No, 12233 should be in the process of extracting genetic material from the person inside as routinely scheduled, Forgery No. 11128 informs the intruder."

"Extracting genetic material?" questioned Ed. "What does that mean?"

Whether or not the Forgery was planning on answering, both of them jumped when a sharp, pain-filled scream punctured the silent corridors. For one horrifying moment, Ed thought his little brother was being tortured, but as he listened to the scream again, he realized that couldn't have been his brother. Al had a deep, echoey voice and the person inside was more high-pitched with a distinct feminine tone. Ed walked around the Forgery, pressed a button on the keypad to open the door, and peered around the edge looking inside. He saw the three Forgeries standing around a large glass tube, which suddenly ignited with a surge of electricity that was quickly drained into the green cables connected at the top. One of the Forgeries was holding a syringe that looked to be filled with blood, tucking it safely under their cloak.

The Forgery in the middle finally stepped aside and Ed could get a clear look at their captive. It was a girl – very young, probably only starting out in her teenage years – with short, slightly untamed chestnut hair. She must have been a middle school student based on the uniform she was wearing: white loose socks and brown loafers with a light brown vest sweater over a white blouse and a grey skirt. Ed first thought the Forgeries were torturing her with electrical shocks, but his sharps eyes noticed that the flow of lightning was being pulled _away_ from the girl, meaning that it was being drained out of her body. This girl, Ed thought, must be a character that uses electrical attacks.

 **MISAKA MIKOTO (A Certain Scientific Railgun)**

The Forgeries stood around Mikoto, watching the machine drain her power, until one of them raised their hand. The Forgery closets to the computer terminal pressed a few buttons and the machine whirred down. Mikoto slumped forward, breathing heavily; her wrists were bound over her head by leather cuffs. After taking a moment to catch her breath, Mikoto weakly lifted her head and leered furiously at the Forgeries.

"What do you want from me?" she breathed. "How much longer are you going to keep me like this?"

"Until we no longer have any use for you, Forgery No. 12231 responds with an uncaring tone. As long as your body is able, you will continue to supply this research facility with energy."

"So that's all I am to you? A battery?" Mikoto wheezed, bearing her teeth. "Then what are the blood samples for, huh? Every day you come in here and stick me with those needles? Why?"

"That's nothing for you to be concerned about, Forgery No. 12231 answers in a shifty tone. But since you are feeling energetic enough to keep talking, then that meets you have more energy to give."

The leading Forgery waved their hand to their comrade, who turned back to the computer and tapped the keyboard. The machine hummed to life and Mikoto's screams rang out into the corridors as the electricity was forcefully ripped from her body once more. And back in the hallway, still unnoticed by the three Forgeries, Ed growled in outraged, his metal fingers bending the edges of the door slightly from their strong grip.

"Those bastards, torturing a little kid…," he hissed.

But while his attention was focused on the agonized Mikoto, the Forgery that had been Ed's captive slowly stepped behind the Fullmetal Alchemist. The Forgery masked its movements under Mikoto's wails, cutting a length wound open on its forearm with its long nails, and fabricated a curved blade of solid blood. The Forgery took one last step forward until it was standing directly behind Ed and jabbed its hand at the back of his head…. But Ed tilted his head out of the way, letting the hand fly over his shoulder, and captured the Forgery's wrist with his metal arm. The Forgery gasped, and Ed looked over his shoulder, glaring.

"I don't think so," he said coolly.

Ed stepped out into the open, dragging the Forgery with him, then hip tossed the masked soldier over his shoulder. He sent the Forgery flying into the soldier standing at the computer, hitting them in the back of the head and thrusting them face first into the keyboard before they slumped to the ground unconscious. Thankfully by sheer coincidence, they hit the button that shut off the energy draining machine; Mikoto slouched with a relieved sigh. The remaining two Forgeries turned on their heels with a swish of their cloaks as Ed sprinted into the room.

"Intruder, Forgery No. 12231 shouts – "

"You guys talk way too much!" shouted Ed as he clapped his hands together.

Halfway into the room, Ed dropped to his knees and slammed his palms on the floor. A short surge of electrical energy sparked from his fingers, traveling a couple inches forward, and metallic columns rose from the floor divided into two sections. The Fullmetal Alchemist had caught the Forgeries by surprise with his technique and slammed them both into the wall with the metal columns before they could respond, pinning them in place; the masked soldiers slumped forward unconscious. With the guards knocked out, Ed crossed the room in wide strides, running up to the tube and pressing his hands against the surface to get a good feel for it. He rapped his metal knuckles at various places, testing the thickness of it, while Mikoto raised her head weakly to stare at him.

"Who…are you…?" said Mikoto tiredly.

"For now, just consider me your rescue party," said Ed, humming thoughtfully. He took a short step back and raised his metal fist behind him. "You might want to turn around."

Mikoto did as he said. She turned around on the spot, her hands still bound above her head, until her back was to Ed. The Fullmetal Alchemist stepped forward, twisting around at the hip for extra thrust, and smashed his metal fist through the glass, showing Mikoto in glass shards. Ed then reached up to Mikoto's wrists – he had to stand on his tiptoes – and ripped away the leather bindings with his bare artificial hand. Mikoto immediately slumped forward and would have fallen on the glass-covered floor if Ed hadn't caught her around the waist. The Fullmetal Alchemist dragged her out of the tube while Mikoto flopped back, resting her head on Ed's shoulder, her face bright red and glistening with sweat, heaving deep, struggling breaths.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Ed in a concerned tone, slapping her cheeks lightly. "Hey, stay with me here. You're gonna be fine, right?"

"They drained…so much…out of me…," Mikoto wheezed.

"What were they doing with you?" said Ed.

"They were…using me…to power their base," said Mikoto; her eyelids were getting heavy with exhaustion. "They kept me here…for weeks…. Took me right our of Academy City…without anyone noticing…. I…I feel so…so tired…. I don't think I can move…."

"Don't worry, I got ya," said Ed.

With a little bit of maneuvering, Ed lifted the Level-5 Esper only her back, draping her arms over his shoulders and carrying her by the legs. Mikoto's head lolled lazily against his shoulder, her eyes closed completely and letting out a soft groaning noise as she tried to make herself comfortable. Once he was sure that Mikoto wouldn't fall off, Ed started walking to the door. But in his hurry to set Mikoto free, he failed to check if all the Forgeries were knocked out and now it was coming back to bite him as Forgery No. 11128 sat up, rubbing their head with a pained groan.

The Forgery looked around the room, surveying the scene around them. All three of its comrades had been incapacitated and the Fullmetal Alchemist had freed the facility's power supply – it would only be a few hours before the base lost power completely. Shooting an unseen glare at their backs, the Forgery crawled over the computer and slammed their fist down on a big red button on the side. The entire base suddenly flashed with blaring red lights as the sirens wailed over the P.A. system (and surprisingly, Mikoto was still fast asleep). Ed jumped, nearly dropping Mikoto, when he looked back at the Forgery that was leaning against the computer.

"You son of a – !" Ed swore.

"You'll never leave this facility alive, Forgery No. 11128 declares victorious – "

"Oh, shut up!" snapped Edward, clapping his hands together. He slapped his palm on the ground and created a metal fist out of the ground the uppercut the Forgery, knocking it out instantly. "Goddammit! You seriously owe me when this is all over, kid," he said to Mikoto over his shoulder.

Ed sprinted into the hallway and turned to the right, but ground his feet to a halt when a wall of Forgeries suddenly appeared around the corner – wow, that got here really fast, Ed thought. He spun around and started running in the opposite direction when another group of Forgeries appeared to block that path as well. The Fullmetal Alchemist backed up against the wall, looking between the mask soldiers with a grimace.

The Forgeries sliced their forearms open with their knives and molded tall python formed from their blood. As the soldier reared their bloody constructs, Ed quietly clapped his hands behind him and pressed his palms against the wall, so that when the Forgeries lashed their constructs, Ed willed a hole to appear behind them. The Fullmetal Alchemist hopped backward through the opening, holding Mikoto firmly on his back, and clapped his hands again as the blood snakes turned their heads toward them. He slapped his hand against the wall just as the serpents started to slip through, filling the hole again and severing the snake heads from their bodies, which reverted them back to inert puddles on the floor.

Ed wiped his forehead with his fleshy arm and let out a relieved sigh.

"Phew, that should hold them for a while," Ed said confidently. He nearly jumped when a chorus of thuds banged the wall beside him and dozens of dents started forming on the surface. "Then again, what do I know?"

Ed ran as fast as his legs could carry him and Mikoto down the long corridor and turned left at the first corner, not really having any idea where he was headed, but figured it was better than standing around waiting for them. He took a right down the next corridor and ran into a pair of Forgeries that were just coming out of a room, both of them carrying boxes of artifacts. The masked soldiers noticed the protagonists as they approached, but their hands were full carrying the boxes. This allowed Ed to launch into a crouch jump and stomped his heels into the Forgeries faces, knocking them flat on their backs with weak groans. The Fullmetal Alchemist kept running before the Forgeries could recover and turned the corner down another long, indistinguishable corridor.

After running blindly for what Ed guess was fifteen minutes, he and Mikoto found themselves standing into the middle of an intersection. Ed looked around at the paths before him, wishing there was so kind of map that could tell him if they were any closer to finding the exit. Mikoto mumbled incoherently into his shoulder, but it didn't seem she was in any state to be giving directions.

"Grr…which way do we go now…?" Ed grumbled.

"Quick! They're over here, Forgery No. 12321 announces with urgency!"

Ed spun around to the right, spotting the lone Forgery lingering at the end of the hall. In seconds, a small platoon of at least twenty to thirty soldiers piled into the narrow corridor, all of them bleeding from the arm.

"Son of a bitch!" Ed cursed as he pivoted around and sprinted down the left hallway.

Ed turned at the end of the corridor while listening to the rumbling of several dozens of feet thundering closer behind. He couldn't keep running forever, Ed thought; sooner or later he was going to run out of stamina and then he would have the strength to perform any alchemy when the time came to fight. Fortunately, he noticed a single wide door quickly approaching on the right side – the only entrance in the entire corridor. Ed wasted no time slapping his metal hand on the keypad, inevitably breaking it, but nonetheless somehow managed to get it open. He and Mikoto quickly ducked inside and Ed clapped his hands together as the rumbling of the Forgery stampeded drew closer. He clapped both hands on the door and a surge of energy passed through the entrance before it seamlessly melted into the rest of the wall.

Ed readjusted Mikoto on his back before he kneeled down and pressed his ear against the wall, listening on the other side. The Forgeries thundered past the spot where they were hiding, many shouting orders in the third person, and continued along without giving the wall a second glance.

"Sounds' like they're gone," Ed told Mikoto in a soft whisper; he didn't know if they had the whole facility bugged or not. "All right, Let's take a moment to rest and then we can start looking for my broth…. Whoa," Ed murmured awestruck as he turned around.

They had been preoccupied with escaping the Forgeries that Ed didn't notice what room he had entered. The chamber seemed to stretch as wide as three football stadiums and the ceiling was so high up that it disappeared into the darkness. The only source of light came from the glowing cylinder tanks filled with neon-blue liquid. These tanks seemed to be the only thing stored inside this room and they were all arranged in neat rows stretching from one end of the chamber to the other. There must have been well over a hundred thousand if Ed was going to take a guess.

Ed took a moment to readjust Mikoto – his back was starting to ache – and cautiously approached one of the tanks. There was a thick layer of condensation covering the glass, but the Fullmetal Alchemist could faintly make out the blurry outline of a human body floating inside. He wiped a small patch on the glass and leaned closer to peer inside – then jumped back with a stunned look on his face. He shook his head, almost not believing what he saw, but when he looked again, it was definitely what he thought.

"Hey, kid, wake up," said Ed, shaking Mikoto urgently with his shoulder. "Come on, snap out of it! You gotta see this!"

Mikoto mumbled defiantly, but raised her head nonetheless, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. She blinked a couple times until her vision became clear, looked at Ed with an annoyed huff, and then stared forward when the Fullmetal Alchemist pointed. When she got a good look at the inside of the tank, Mikoto let out a horrified gasp.

It was a little girl, definitely a few years younger than either of them, but there was no denying that she had the same face as Mikoto. The child-sized Mikoto bobbed up and down inside the mysterious glowing liquid, curled up in a ball to preserve modesty for the sake of the story rating, wearing an oxygen mask on her face to breath. Half a dozen tubes were stabbing the clone's back, pumping a strange red substance directly into her spine. Mikoto stared openmouthed at the little version of herself until Ed suddenly moved to the next tank, wiping away the condensation, and peeking inside. There was another Mikoto clone, only a couple years older, closer to the real Mikoto's age. He checked the next one and there was another Mikoto barely coming out of infancy. The Mikoto in the next tank over looked like a newborn.

"They're all the same," said Ed after checking the fifth tank. "Each of them are at different ages, but they're all clones of you. Did you know about this?"

"It's the Sister Project," Mikoto murmured with a stunned expression. "They restarted it. That explains why they kept taking blood samples from me."

"You gonna explain what this is about, or am I gonna have to guess?" asked Ed sarcastically.

"It's one of the plotlines of my anime," said Mikoto. "A bunch of evil scientists stole samples of my blood when I was a kid and mass produced an army of Misaka clones to make the then-antagonist Accelerator strong enough to become a Level 6 Esper. Only twenty thousand were ever made and more than half of them were killed before Touma finally put a stop to it. But looking at all of this, they must have quintupled that amount."

"There's so many of them…," Ed muttered awestruck, walking between the rows of tanks. "What're they using them all for?"

"I think I have an idea…," Mikoto murmured softly.

Ed noticed the miserable tone in her voice and craned his head around to ask what's wrong when the farthest wall suddenly blew open with a fiery explosion. Ed quickly ducked behind one of the tanks and crouched down, cautiously peeking around towards the newly formed hole. Several Forgeries marched into the dark room illuminated by the glow of the cloning tanks; one of the soldiers was holding the husk of an explosive device before tossing it over their shoulder.

"I knew there was supposed to be an entrance here, Forgery No. 16421 says in a matter-of-fact way. They must still be here – this is out of the Genetic Reproduction Station! Spread out and find them!"

"Be careful not to harm the Sisters, Forgery No. 17669 added to Forgery No. 16421's command. They are still in the gestation process."

The masked soldiers marched between the rows of cloning tanks, peering around every container and moving on when they found nothing. Ed carefully poked his head around from his hiding spot; it looked like the Forgeries had spread out and were checking the first couple of rows in pairs. It would be next to impossible to sneak past without being noticed, but it would be easy to take out one pair and slip past afterwards, Ed thought.

"Okay, here's the plan," Ed whispered over his shoulder. "I'll use my alchemy to make a hole underneath one group and drop them in the floor below. Then we can sneak through the other guards and make out way out into the hall. We don't know if they have any other guards waiting outside, so we'll have to be careful – "

"No," Mikoto said suddenly.

The Fullmetal Alchemist blinked curiously at her objection when Mikoto pushed herself off Ed's back and forced herself to stand. The electromaster wobbled a little and would have fallen backwards if Ed had jumped up and caught her by the shoulders, setting her down on the floor gently on her knees.

"Whoa, what're you doing?" Ed hissed.

"We can't leave," Mikoto said adamantly. "Not yet. We have to take out those soldiers first."

"Are you crazy?" Ed snapped in a low whisper. "We can't fight them! You barely have any strength to stand and I can't babysit you the whole time! We'll be sitting duck!"

"Do you understand what this means to me?" Mikoto asked seriously, pointing to the cloning tank next to them. "This is me. These clones…these girls…are my Sisters. I already had to live through watching them be tortured and murdered like animals by one psychotic megalomaniac, so I'm not about to sit around and watch them be used again. If I'm right in thinking what they're being used for, then I can't afford to run away. These Forgeries have the answers and I'm not leaving until I get them, so you can either get on-board or get out of the way."

Ed took a moment to consider the Level-5 Esper. She had a steely determined look in her eyes – the same kind Ed would see in a mirror whenever during his pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone. The Fullmetal Alchemist let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, but nodded at her.

"All right, I'll stay," said Ed in defeat. "But how are you gonna fight them off when you can barely stand?"

She didn't answer right away, but Mikoto quietly turned around and reached out her hands to the base of the tank next to them. Her fingers pressed against the machine and suddenly a flow of electrical energy slithered up her arms and gathering in her chest; Mikoto's once-pale skin regained its color and all the tiredness in her eyes vanished, replaced by an energetic gaze. But when the glow of the cloning tanks started to flicker, Mikoto immediately pulled away; one of the Forgeries noticed the flickering for a moment, stared at it, then continued its patrol. Mikoto stretched her fingers, sparks popping around the digits, and turned back to Ed.

"That should be enough," said Mikoto.

"I didn't know you could do that," said Ed, whistling impressively.

"It was never shown in the anime, but it was implied," said Mikoto, moving past her partner and leaning around the tank. "All right, there are fourteen total Forgeries, each of them moving in groups of two, so there are seven groups in total. With my power and your alchemy, we should be able to knock them out pretty easily." She suddenly rounded on Ed, making him lean back. "And I mean _only_ knock them out. I don't want any of them dead, got it?"

"Okay, okay, chill out," said Ed, raising his hand in surrender. "I don't make a habit of killing people anyway. But just out of curiosity" – he pulled Mikoto's head back when a Forgery group walked past their spot "why do you wanna keep them alive? They sure didn't seem to care about you all that much."

"I just…have a feeling, all right," Mikoto muttered softly.

Ed shook his head, sighing exasperatedly, and said, "You women are so high maintenance. All right, fine, no hurting the bad guys too much. Let's just hurry up and kick their asses so I can find my brother.

And then he clapped his hands.

A pair of nearby Forgeries were walking along the next row when they heard the crackling of electricity and the faintest glimmer of flickering light coming from behind the tanks two lines over. Immediately, the pair dashed over, already cutting their forearms and shaping their snakes of blood by the time they stopped in front of Ed and Mikoto's hiding spot. The masked soldiers skid to a halt, arms raised, when they suddenly found themselves facing the barrel of a giant cannon with the Fullmetal Alchemist standing proudly atop it. The Forgeries stared dumbstruck while Ed, with a mischievous grin stretched across his face, clapped his hands once more and slammed them on the cannon. The Forgeries immediately turned to run, but they had barely taken two steps before they were plowed from behind by a massive steel cannonball. They were sent flying across the cloning chamber, smashing through dozens of tanks, and slammed into the wall at the far end of the room.

The other Forgeries turned at the noise; the metal cannonball rolled away slowly as the pair of soldiers slowly slumped down the wall unconscious. The other soldiers followed the path of destruction back Ed, who had jumped down while clapping his hands.

"Hey, chumps, you looking for us?" Ed called in a challenging tone. "Well, here we are – " He was nearly bit his tongue when Mikoto stepped behind and slapped him over the head; Ed moaned as he held the tender spot. "OW! WHAT THE HELL?"

"I just told you not to kill any of them?" Mikoto shouted angrily. "That includes the ones in the tanks!"

"Whaddya want from me?" Ed snapped.

"I want you to stop and actually use that tiny organ you call a brain for once!" said Mikoto

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY BUG THAT ESCAPES THE WRATH OF A SHOE BECAUSE HE'S SO SMALL THAT HE FITS IN THE GROOVES AND CAN'T GET SQUASHED?!" howled Ed.

"THAT ISN'T EVEN REMOTELY WHAT I SAID!" roared Mikoto.

The Forgeries watched the protagonists argue back and forth, their volume getting higher with each retort, then looked at one another in apparent confusion, not knowing what to make of the situation. The masked soldiers waited for three more retorts before one of them decided they had enough and formed a curved blade of blood from their wrist; two more followed the first's example and rushed the heroes.

Just as Mikoto was about to snap back at Ed comment about her lack of womanly assets, the Level-5 Esper peered over her shorter companion's shoulder and spotted the Forgeries running at them. Mikoto pushed Ed out of the way and slammed her palms on the metal floor. A surge of electricity flowed from her fingers and traveled along the floor until they reached the Forgeries feet, where they suddenly stopped in their tracks. The masked soldiers nearly fell on their faces – they threw out their arms to maintain balance – and looked down in confusion. When they tried pulling their feet up, they realize that their feet seemed almost glued to the floor. Ed's mouth dropped in awe.

"What'd you do?" asked Ed.

"I magnetized their feet to the floor using their own bioelectricity," Mikoto explained. When she saw the blank stare that Ed was giving her, she sighed and mumble, "That's what I get for trying to teach science to a guy whose anime takes place before TV…. Look, are you gonna just stand there gaping or are you gonna take care of them?"

Ed didn't appreciate her rudeness, but he clapped his hands anyways and slapped one to the floor, sparking a surge of energy to life. He slowly raised his hand off the ground and the metal floor bended itself to follow until it formed a long, gothic-style spear. Mikoto gave him a warning look when she saw the spear, but Ed waved it off and charged at the Forgeries.

The masked soldiers gave up trying to free themselves when they heard Ed's feet pound the metal floor getting closer. They reshaped the blades on their arms into bloody vipers and shot them at the Fullmetal Alchemist with their fangs bared. But Ed punched one of the serpents into a bloody puddle with his metal fist and swung his spear to slice the heads off the other two before he was within spitting distance of the trapped soldiers. The Fullmetal Alchemist swung his spear overhead and brought it down on the first Forgery, but being careful only to use the metal pole of the weapon; the metal rang upon contact and the Forgery slumped to the ground. Ed then spun around on his heel, grabbed the next Forgery's arm before they could stab him with a bloody knife, and delivered a swift uppercut with his metal fist, knocking them out instantly.

The last Forgery crafted another snake from its bleeding forearm and commanded the viper to bite Ed's left leg, suspecting that the Alchemist would be least likely to defend from underneath. However, when the viper bit at Ed's leg, there was a sharp _clang_ when its fangs bit through his pants, and the snake pulled back with a disappointed hiss. The Forgery had no chance to ponder the phenomenon when Ed knocked it out with a strong right hook.

"Aw man, I should have made a leg joke before he conked out," said Ed with a small chuckle.

"Attack them all at once, Forgery No. 16421's commands, feeling slightly panicked over the loss of several comrades. They can't take us all on!"

"Wanna bet?" Mikoto challenged.

The Level-5 Esper slapped her hands on the metal floor again, flooding its with electricity. The Forgeries immediately jumped, grabbing the tops of the cloning tanks to stay suspended over the floor as the electric wave passed by. But while the soldiers thought she was trying to magnetize them again, Mikoto instead used her electromagnetic powers to rip entire panels out of the floor, exposing the stone underneath, and shot them up like bottle rockets. They slapped two of the Forgeries hard across the face with enough force that the _bang_ echoed across the chamber, dropping them to the floor unconscious. Sadly, the rest of the soldiers either moved out of the way or formed solid barriers of their own blood for protection.

One of the Forgeries formed a crossbow with their blood, aiming for Mikoto's head, when Ed suddenly ran up the side of the tank and punched the soldier hard across the face. He landed back on the floor with the Forgery dropping facedown next to him. Another Forgery cried out as it bound toward the Fullmetal Alchemist with a sickle blade forming at the wrist. Ed quickly jumped back a few feet and clapped his hands together before pressing them to the floor. The floor in front of him liquefied into a deep, muddy hole that when the Forgery landed, it sank until its entire lower body was buried; it immediately turned solid again once Ed removed his hands. The Forgery tried pulling itself out to no avail just before Ed ran over and kicked the soldier across the face with his auto-mail foot, [promptly knocking them out

If Ed had done his math correctly, they had already taken out more than half their forces; only six of them should be left. But he had little time to celebrate when a red blur whizzed past his face, breaking a hole in the floor behind him. He felt something warm and wet sliding down the side of his face. It was blood, but it wasn't his.

The six remaining Forgeries had lined up at the end of the cloning field, standing shoulder to shoulder, with their hands held out in front of them. They had all cut their palms open, forming tiny spheres of blood in them. The Forgery directly facing Ed pushed their hand forward and the little blood ball shot across the room like a speeding bullet. Ed barely ducked out of the way – the bullet clipping a few of his golden hairs – and crouched behind one of the cloning tanks. As he leaned back against the base of the tank, he could see dozens of crimson blurs shooting past the tanks like a horizontal rainstorm. One bullet clipped the base near Ed's head, creating a long scar across the machine. They weren't just fast – they're deadly, Ed thoughts.

Ed tried to make himself as small as possible (the irony didn't escape him) and the Forgeries continued to pelt him with blood bullets. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement and turned his head to the side to SEE Mikoto ducking behind the tank next to him. She tried peeking around the tank, but quickly pulled back when one bullet came too close to her face, leaving a small crack in the glass.

"You know, if you have any ideas, now would be the perfect time to share!" Ed yelled.

"Just one!" Mikoto shouted back. She reached into her pockets and let out a frustrated groan. "Gah! They took my tokens away when they brought me here! I can't do anything without one!"

Ed clapped his hands together, using alchemy to craft something small out of the floor in front of him. In between the Forgeries firing off their blood bullets, Ed quickly threw the object at Mikoto, who deftly snatched it out of the air. It was a small metal coin…etched with Ed grinning face giving a thumbs-up.

"Really?" said Mikoto with an incredulous look.

"Just do whatever you're gonna do and fast!" snapped Ed.

Mikoto shook her head in disbelief. She peered around the tank, spying the Forgeries lined up at the end of the row, and said, "Hey, hey, we give up, stop shooting!"

"What're you doing?" Ed hissed; the bullet storm thankfully stopped.

"Just trust me on this," Mikoto whispered.

"Come out with your hands up, Forgery No. 16421 demands with some apprehension."

Mikoto and Ed slowly stand up and walk out into the open with their hands above their heads. Ed notices that Mikoto is holding the token he made in her palm for the Forgeries to see. The Forgeries spotted the token right away and it gave them some reservation by the way they paused.

"Throw that away, Forgery No. 16421 orders, eyeing the token uneasily."

"Okay, whatever you say," said Mikoto in a sing-song voice.

The Level-5 Esper moved the token around in her hand until it was on top of her thumb and flicked it into the air; the _click_ echoing in the near silent room. The Forgeries followed their token with their heads, paying no attention to Ed and Mikoto as the latter suddenly held her other hand out in front. A strong current of electrical energy began to flow down the length of her arm and build at the base of her fingers, radiating more obviously as more power was stored. Ed had no idea what she was doing, but he thought it was a good idea to duck back behind the cloning tanks. At the same time, the token finally started to fall back to the ground and the Forgeries followed with their gazes, only realizing too late that Mikoto had built up a massive amount of electricity in the time they weren't watch. The token fell in front of her electrified hand –

"Oh crap, Forgery No. 16421 mutters in the face of imminent defeat."

And Mikoto flicks her thumb, striking the coin's face. Ed could describe what he had seen – mostly because he had been knocked back by the force generated from the gesture – but it almost looked like the coin had suddenly transformed into a pressurized laser. It ripped up the metal floor just by passing over, but the cloning tanks had been remarkably untouched, showing a surprising amount of control behind the attack. The Forgeries were hit directly by the line of fire. At least two of them were sent flying in opposite directions, but were promptly knocked out, and the remaining four were carried all the way to the end of the chamber where they smashed through the steel walls like they were made of rice paper, making the whole base rumble unsteadily.

A long period of stunned silence passed over them in the wake of the devastation. Mikoto lowered her arm with a soft frown, a long scar sliced through the floor traveling from her feet to the wall, light spilling in from the corridors outside. Ed slowly got to one knee with his mouth dropped. He had seen a lot of crazy shit when fighting the Homunculus, but this was completely new to him. Who would've ever thought a little kid could hold that kind of power….

"And you were getting on my back for not killing them," Ed finally found his voice, standing up and brushing the dust off his coat. "You just annihilated those guys."

"No, I was holding back that time," said Mikoto like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If they had been just regular foot soldiers, then yeah, they would be dead. But the Forgeries are special. They're immune to my electrical attacks – that's why I've been fighting them with objects instead of attacking them directly with electricity."

"And how'd you know that?" asked Ed, his hands on his hips, brow raised suspiciously.

Rather than answer, Mikoto gestured Ed to follow her and together they walked to one of the knocked-out Forgeries on the floor. After flipping them on their back, Mikoto reached for the soldier's mask and pried it off with some difficulty. The Level-5 Esper pulled the mask slowly…to reveal someone with her face. Ed's eyes widened with shock as he looked between the unmasked Forgery and the girls floating in the tanks.

"No way," Ed gasped softly. "You mean…all this time…."

"Yeah," said Mikoto remorsefully. "That explains why Mirai captured me first – why he wanted me for my energy and DNA. His army…all of his Forgeries…as my Sisters…."

* * *

 **[Edward Elric and Misaka Mikoto have joined your party]**

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	12. That Obligatory Hero vs Hero Episode

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Twelve: That Obligatory Hero vs. Hero Episode**

* * *

It had been three days since they had escaped the (now forgotten) World Martial Arts Tournament and made their way to the mainland of Animatia. After they had reached the shore – and sent Gamakichi away so that he would stop fanboying – the party of Naruto, Sailor Moon, and Fubuki went on a journey across the entire continent searching for help. But in the past three days, Mirai's attacks on the land of anime had increased exponentially, starting from the drama and slice of life shows and working their way up to the more action oriented animes. The had already annihilated the Highschool (the designated scene for all school anime) and raided the Nursery (the territory for anime aimed towards younger audiences). And as of an hour ago, they had left Luna Nova Academy after seeing the devastation – they did not run into Akko or Natsu along the way.

Naruto groaned tiredly as he dragged his feet across the shore of Japari Lake, Sailor Moon trudging up behind him, and Fubuki skimming the edge of the lake. They were directly opposite of the area where Nanoha, Mirodiya, and Bakugo had fought Megidramon, but there was no sign of the three presently. After slogging a few more paces, Naruto suddenly stopped, threw back his head, and let out an exaggerated groan.

"UUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH! We've been walking around for three days and we still haven't found found a single person!" Naruto whined. "WHERE IS EVERYBODY?"

"Are you really that surprised?" asked Sailor Moon, leering at him exasperatedly. "The whole country is in the middle of an invasion. They're probably hiding or trying to fight off Mirai's people."

"And my radio still isn't working," said Fubuki, tapping the piece in her ear. "Either its because everyone's still busy fighting or the enemy is jamming communications somehow."

"Or they could be dead," said Naruto bluntly. Sailor Moon swiftly elbowed him in the gut. "OOF! What was that for?"

"You say you don't want people to think you're an idiot and you go saying stupid stuff like that," Sailor Moon scolded, turning to Fubuki. "I'm sure your friends are fine. I'm not worried about the Sailor Scouts because I know they can take care of themselves. So let's focus on finding as many people as we can and then we can go after Mirai."

"But where do we even start?" asked Fubuki.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Naruto, narrowing his vision with hand on his brow. Sailor Moon and Fubuki followed his line of sight to the opposite side of the shore where a long, blocky outline was zipping past the trees. "I think that's a person…riding on something…. In think they're riding a scooter…it's a yellow scooter! That's gotta be Haruko!"

"How can you even tell from this far?" asked Sailor Moon uncertainly. She could barely see the figure, much less make out the color of their vehicle.

"We gotta catch that scooter!" Naruto yelled, leaping forward over the lake. "Let's go!"

The shinobi clad in orange landed on the surface of the lake and dashed across as if he was running on solid ground; Fubuki sputtered from Naruto's surprise charge and chased after him. But neither one of them seemed to realize that Sailor Moon wasn't following. She was stuck on the shore, hand stretched out, mouth agape, watching helplessly as her friends got further and further away. The guardian of the moon shook off the initial shock, stomped her feet, and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"HEY, GET BACK HERE! I CAN'T TREAD ON WATER LIKE YOU GUYS! COME BACK!"

But neither of them seemed to hear her; Sailor Moon hanged her head in despair.

Just then, she heard the grass crunching behind her as a shadow stretched into her vision. Three days of pent-up paranoia caused the guardian of the moon to jump up, flailing her arms while shrieking incoherently, before she collected herself and faced the newcomer with a hardened action pose. But when she saw the stranger's face, Sailor Moon quickly dropped her guard and covered her mouth with a huge, dramatic gasp.

"Satsuki?" she said in disbelief.

Sailor Moon almost couldn't believe it, but this was definitely Satsuki Kiryuin standing right in front of her – same angry scowl and everything.

"Oh my kami, Satsuki! You're okay!" Sailor Moon screamed in jubilation, taking hold of the Kiryuin's hands into her own. Strangely enough, Satsuki didn't fight her off. "I thought you were crystalized and taken by Haruko? How did you manage to get away?"

Satsuki didn't say a thing, but her lips tilted upward into a small grin. Sailor Moon visibly tensed; Satsuki rarely smiled unless she had done something, usually dangerous or manipulative. And when the woman in white stepped back and removed her hands from Sailor Moon's, the guardian of the moon felt a sudden weight in her palms. Sailor Moon looked down and only just realized that she was holding a metal ball with neon-pink outlines – the same one used to crystalize Satsuki. Sailor Moon lifted her hand to throw it, but the timer finally went off and consumed the Magical Girl in a flash of pink light.

Satsuki shielded her eyes from the blinding light and waited for it to dim. When she looked again, Sailor Moon was trapped in the same position, petrified in a case of solid crystal.

"Expertly executed, my friend." Satsuki turned her head to look over her shoulder as Frieza floated down behind her. The self-proclaimed Emperor of the Universe had seen better days; he was covered in dirt with a few noticeable bruises spattered around his white skin. "I may not have been able to capture that…White Devil and her little sidekicks, but I found the next best thing."

He stretched his tail and looped it around Sailor Moon's waist, lifting the trophy with ease.

"On to the next one," Frieza said to Satsuki.

* * *

Twenty minutes later and a couple miles down the path of the lake shore, Greymon emerged through the Japari Forest, his thunderous stomps frightening away any Friends that had though it safe to return to their watering hole. Ryuko sat cross-legged atop the orange dinosaur's plated skull, looking at their surroundings with an uncertain expression. She pulled out her smartphone and started sliding through the apps.

" **Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?** " asked Senketsu. " **This doesn't look like the desert to me.** "

"No, this is the right way," said Ryuko, frowning. "According to Goggle Earth-Chan, the Colorless Desert is just past Japari Park. Not a whole lot of people use that place – it's just one or two desert animes and that one sand guy from Naruto on certain occasions. There's not anything worth looking for that I can think of."

" **What about the Walls?** " asked Senketsu. " **I believe they exist on the opposite side of the desert, don't they? Perhaps the enemy is heading in that direction.** "

"You mean that place with the giant naked guys that eat people?" said Ryuko, humming thoughtfully and rubbing her chin. "Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Those Forgery things are probably gonna try to wipe them out like they were going to do with Hakumei and Mikochi's home."

" **Do you think they can?** " asked Senketsu.

"The clean freak and the Asian chick could probably handle themselves fine," said Ryuko, "but everyone else is pretty much dead meat. If they can't even beat those weakass giants by themselves, they don't stand a chance against the Forgeries."

" **Then we had best hurry,** " said Senketsu.

The dark-haired delinquent kicked her foot on top of Greymon's head and passed along the message that they had to move faster. And when the dinosaur Digimon refused – wanting to go at his own pace – Ryuko dangled a piece of mystery croquette over his snout and suddenly had to cling to his horn when they started zooming down the shoreline. But as they were charging along the path, none of them noticed Satsuki Kiryuin leaning into the shadow of a tree just down the road, waiting for them.

The ruler of Honnoji Academy reached inside her pocket and pulled out one of the Crystal Bombs, twisting the top to activate in and leaned the tree, watching her prey. They were still less than a mile away from her spot, but at the speed they were going, they would pass by in a few short minutes. Satsuki raised her arm and started to pull back, ready to lob the bomb in a few seconds, when a gunshot rang out across the lakeside. The Crystal Bomb snapped out of Satsuki's hands – a clean bullet hole in the center – and exploded in the air, forming a shapeless cluster of crystals that smashed on the road. Satsuki spun around, glaring, as Yoshika hovered a few feet above as she stowed away her side arm. Goku and Sakura floated to the ground a few seconds later, standing across the dark-haired woman.

"Satsuki-sama, is that you?" asked Sakura surprisingly. "You managed to get away from Haruko. Well, in all honesty, I can't say I'm surprised. You really are – "

But when Sakura started to approach her, Goku suddenly threw out his arm to keep her back. The Saiyan warrior's brows were furrowed in an unsettling expression, his lips curved into a deep frown. Sakura was taken aback –

"Goku, what's – "

"Who are you?" he asked suddenly. "Are you some kind of shapeshifter, or did you steal that body? Believe me, that second one has happened a couple times before…."

"Goku, what're you talking about?" asked Sakura, stunned. "That's Satsuki-sama. I mean, who else _could_ it be?"

"That's not Satsuki," said Goku firmly. He shifted his body and took on a combative stance. "I've actually fought Satsuki a couple times and I remember that her Ki was always super strong, but also pure and unshakable. But this guy…his Ki is nowhere near the same level as Satsuki's – it filled with so much darkness and evil."

"Plus, he had one of those bombs that turn people to crystal," said Yoshika, raising her rifle. "Nanoha-san showed them to us during the military assembly. They belong to the bad guys."

"Well, that about settles it," said Goku, leering mistrustfully at the imposter. "I'm only gonna ask this once: What have you done with our friends? Where are you keeping them?"

The imposter Satsuki said nothing in response to the accusation – whether it was because she wouldn't or she couldn't. But then, quick as a flash, the dark-haired swordswoman grabbed the hilt of her sword strapped to her waist, dashed across the grass, and slashed the blade through the air. Yoshika shot into the sky with a surprised yelp and Goku leaned back to dodge, but Sakura raised her wand up at her side, blocking the sword with the staff. The imposter was still stronger, however, and knocked Sakura off her feet, sending her sliding across the dirt on her back. The fake Satsuki holstered her blade once more and started to run after the Cardcaptor, but Goku swiftly dashed in front, cutting her off.

The imposter withdrew her sword in a flash of motion that Goku only narrowly managed to duck underneath of; a few of his hairs were clipped as a result. The Saiyan hero furrowed his brow – this was nothing like the time he had that sparing match with Trunks when he returned to Earth. Satsuki was much stronger and her sword was even deadlier.

Goku stooped, dodged, and one time backflipped away from the Satsuki's sword as the impersonator gave chase. After ducking under a swing for his neck, the Saiyan warrior lunged forward with his fist flying towards the imposter's chest, but the fake Satsuki slapped it away with the scabbard of her sword, causing him to stumble past her. With his back exposed, the imposter turned on her heel, flipped the blade in her hand, and stabbed it down. Goku's lightning-fast reflexes allowed him to catch his footing, spin around faster than a tornado, and stop Satsuki's sword by catching it between his hands. The imposter Satsuki grimaced and pressed her other hand against the back of her weapon, but Goku not only managed to hold the sword in place, but he started to pull it to the side, though struggling slightly.

This exchange went on for maybe two or three minutes until Goku finally managed to force the fake Satsuki's sword off to the side at waist level. But before he could consider his next move, the impersonator used the sleeziest, most deplorable move in the history of dirty fighting: she kicked him in the crotch.

"GAH!" Goku cried out, doubling over and holding himself pathetically. "That…was a low blow…literally…."

The imposter didn't seem to care. She raised her sword in a slow-motion arc above her head and began to swing down towards the Saiyan's neck when the roar of propellers screeched in their ears. Before she knew what she was doing, Yoshika suddenly zoomed in and football tackled the fake Satsuki from the side. The dark-haired woman cried out, spitting out bits of vomit as the Strike Witch headbutted her stomach with the strength or a cannonball; her sword was sent flying and stabbed perfectly into the grass several feet away.

The fake Satsuki hit the ground face first, bounced off the ground, and then rolled onto her back, her front flecked with green bits she spit up; Yoshika fell flat in an awkward angle with her body bended upwards and her propeller feet dangling over her head. The imposter pushed up into a sitting position, grimacing and she held her abdomen, when a sharp cry of " **The Wood!** " rang out. Tendrils of vines and branches sprouted out of the ground, slithering around the fake Satsuki's wrists and ankles like brown and green boa constrictors before they started to climb over the rest of the body. In a few seconds, the imposter was bound in a wooden cocoon from her shoulders to her ankles, forced to hover a foot off the ground by the branches.

Sakura walked calmly over, stowing the Clow Card in her pocket, and helped Yoshika get back up; the dog-eared fighter whined, her face scratched and covered in dirt.

"There, there, it's okay," said Sakura, smiling pleasantly as she offered up a handkerchief. "Here. Use this."

"Thanks," Yoshika mumbled, humbly accepting the cloth.

"Well, we…we did it…," Goku wheezed, walking awkwardly over to them. "Ooh…that was uncalled for…. Hey, Yoshika…think you can use your magic…just a little…?"

Yoshika glanced awkwardly between Goku's face and the er…injury spot; her face turned bright-red.

"Uh…maybe you should walk it off," Yoshika muttered embarrassingly; Goku groaned in pain.

Meanwhile, Sakura walked up to the fake Satsuki and hummed, "Hmm…it looks like Satsuki-sama and acts like her, too. Think it's a clone?" she asked the pair.

"Well, she's not as chatty as the Satsuki I know," said Goku, grunting firmly and fighting back the pain in his lower regions. "Though, considering I've only met her a couple of times, it's hard to tell."

"So…what are we supposed to do with her?" asked Yoshika, gesturing to the fake.

While Goku, Sakura, and Yoshika gathered around their prisoner, their backs were turned to Greymon as the dinosaur Digimon stomped along the dirt road around the lake shore and Ryuko perched on his head trying to make heads or tails of her mapping app. The dark-haired delinquent frowned, then turned her smartphone in one direction while tilting her head the other way; nope, that didn't make it any better. Senketsu's one eye rolled around and noticed a bunch of colorful shapes at the crest of the hill.

" **Hey, what's that over there?** " he asked Ryuko.

"Huh, what's over where - ?" Ryuko grumbled, first looking at her uniform, and then in the direction he was staring, her eyes falling directly on the blurb of bright orange. "Huh? Isn't that the dude from that show where everyone screams at nothing for half the show? What was his name again…?"

"Hmm?" Greymon rumbled turning his head as well. "Hey, that's Goku. And that's Sakura with him. And…some girl I don't know."

" **Wait, who's that next to them?** " said Senketsu.

The delinquent crawled over Greymon's helmet and leaned off one of his horns, a hand over her eyes as she narrowed her vision on the group at the top of the hill. Goku, Sakura, and the half-airplane girl seemed to be surrounding a large wooden egg with black hair on top. It took a moment for her to realize that the black hair was a attached to a human head, and that human head belong to –

"Satsuki!" screamed Ryuko, her heart hammering widely in fear.

Ryuko leaped off Greymon's head – she faintly heard the grumble of "Where're you going?" and dashed up the hillside as fast as her muscular legs could carry her. She whipped out her scissor blade as she reached the crest of the hill. She heard the plane-girl talking to the other two ("So…what are we supposed to do with her?") and then she jumped high into the air, scissor blade raised over her head, throwing herself forward as she screamed at the top of her lungs:

" _GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU BASTARD_!"

The three heroes spun around just in time as Ryuko came down on top of them, slashing her sword over Goku's head. The Saiyan warrior reacted purely on adrenaline and instinct; he reached up and grabbed the scissor blade with both hands, stopping the edge just a few inches short of his nose. He could feel the blood dripping between his fingers from where Ryuko's sword sliced his palms open. Yoshika started to point her rifle at Ryuko, not recognizing the protagonist of Kill La Kill, but Sakura yelled and threw herself at the gun, causing Yoshika to shoot the ground near Ryuko's feet when she pulled the trigger. The violent transfer student glanced sideways at the girls, then pulled her scissor blade back, splattering Goku's blood on the grass, and jumped back a sizable distance away, pointed her sword accusingly at them.

"Whaddya think you're doing to Satsuki?" roared Ryuko. "You let her go right now before I kick your asses!"

"Wait a minute, time pout, hold on a second!" Sakura sputtered frantically. "This is just a misunderstanding!"

"Misunderstanding my ass!" Ryuko snapped. "You have my sister tied up! What's there to misunderstand about that?"

"Okay, I admit, it does look bad," said Sakura soothingly. "But I swear to you, this is not Satsuki. She's some kind of…clone or imposter…. We definitely know it's not the real Satsuki, because the real one was captured by some woman on a vespa – "

"Now I know you're bullshitting me!" Ryuko snarled. "You think Satsuki could be captured that easy? And by some vespa chick? You've got about three second or there's going to be a fight."

"Heroes fighting other heroes?" said Yoshika blandly. "Since when did we become Marvel Comics?"

Her brow furrowed in irritation, Ryuko took her first step against the trio when everyone felt the earth rumble beneath their feet. Ryuko and Goku staggered while Sakura fell on her butt – Yoshika hovered safely above. A quick series of thunderous footsteps and Greymon suddenly leaped over Ryuko's head, charging at Goku's group with his horn lowered forward. Goku braced himself as he threw out his hands and caught the Digimon's horn. The Saiyan warrior was pushed backwards by a long distance, his boots digging a pair of parallel tranches in the ground, before Goku finally pushed his weight against Greymon's and they stopped. Though five times Goku's size, Greymon was visibly struggling to push Goku back, but the Dragon Bal protagonist was not giving any ground.

"Agumon!" Ryuko cried surprisingly.

"Ryuko, Go!" Greymon roared. "I've got this – you go help your sister!"

She nodded gratefully to the orange dinosaur and made a mad dash for Satsuki. She had only gotten halfway across the grass when the _rat-ta-tat-tat_ cut through the air and Ryuko grounded her heels, stopped just a few inches short of the trail of gunfire that blocked her way. Ryuko spun around, teeth gritted, staring angrily up at Yoshika as she hovered overhead with her rifle pointed down on her. Yoshika shivered nervously – this dark-haired girl looked very scary – but the Strike Witch steeled herself and kept her weapons straight.

"Sakura-senpai, watch over Satsuki!" shouted Yoshika firmly. "I'll take care of this!"

"You ain't taking' care of shit!" said Ryuko. She raised her gloved left hand into view and took hold of the pin. "Ready, Senketsu?"

" **Born ready,** " said Senketsu determinedly.

Ryuko turned and pulled the pin out of the glove, which immitted a shower of sparkles. After that, everyone was given a show of a mostly naked Ryuko going through a transformation sequence that the reader can watch on youtube or in the anime itself, because the author is too lazy to write the whole thing down. As soon as the unnecessarily long transformation sequence had finished, Yoshika and Sakura got a good look at Ryuko's new uniform; Sakura face was red with embarrassment and Yoshika's face was red for a completely different reason.

The dark-haired delinquent was almost completely naked and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Senketsu's "eyes" extend into wing-shaped crests jutting out from Ryūko's shoulders and divided into two sections of armor. The top section covered her arms and most of her upperbody in pitch-black material, only barely covering any modesty on her breasts, and the lower section was a very skimpy skirt held up by suspenders, leaving everything between the two sections completely bare.

 **LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE: KAMUI SENKETSU  
** **「人衣一体」神衣・鮮血**

Despite how indecent and perverted her costume was, Ryuko whipped out her scissor blade and took a fighting stance without the slightest shred of embarrassment, which only made Sakura feel ever more embarrassed.

"What are you wearing?" Sakura gasped horrifically. "How can you even stand there looking all proud when you're half naked!"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" shouted Ryuko, stomping her foot angrily. "Blame it on those hentai bastards at Trigger!"

"Is this what anime has been reduced to in the modern era?" muttered Sakura, covered her eyes and shaking her head. "What has this country become where kids look up to exhibitionists as heroes?"

"Hard to believe she's from the same studio that made a wholesome show like Little Witch Academia," said Yoshika.

" **Quick, Ryuko, attack while they're distracted by your nudity!** " said Senketsu urgently.

"Hey, it's your fault I look this way, too, ya know?" Ryuko snapped at her uniform.

" **Just go!** " said Senketsu irritably.

Ryuko rolled her eyes at being given order by her _school uniform_ , but she nevertheless grips her scissor blade and throws herself at Yoshika and Sakura. The cardcaptor immediately flings herself to the left and the Strike Witch shoots straight into the sky; Ryuko's sword cleaved a clear patch in the grass. The high school delinquent turns toward Sakura, who was raising herself to her hands and feet while spitting out several blades of grass that got in her mouth. It would have been easy to take her out while her back was turned, but Ryuko wasn't a coward and wouldn't take cheap shots on unsuspecting opponents. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to because Yoshika suddenly zoomed sideways into her field of vision, pulling her rifle on Ryuko as her finger pulled the trigger.

A hailstorm of bullets flew across the hill, leaving no opportunities for Ryuko to run or dodge without sustaining some kind of damage. But Ryuko wasn't planning on doing either. Instead, she flipped the scissor blade around in her hand and slashed it across the air faster than the eye could blink, miraculously knocking several bullets harmlessly to the side. She took another wide swing and threw away another handful of shells. Back and forth, back and forth, Ryuko would swing her scissor blade with speeds that were beyond inhuman and slap Yoshika's bullets away like they were little more than pesky flies. Yoshika visibly panicked when she realized that none of her shots were getting in, but she actually squeaked like a terrified mouse when she her the _click, click_ of her rifle running out of ammo.

Ryuko smirked.

Yoshika sputtered and reached for her bag to grab more ammunition, but Ryuko's powerful legs carried her across the hill before Yoshika had the chance and kicked the Strike Witch in the stomach, sending her flying over the grass. Yoshika flipped and flailed for two rotations before she could reorient herself her and straightened her in the air, allowing her to catch herself before she smacked into one of the sparse trees spread throughout the hilltop. Yoshika rubbed her belly with a quiet grimace – fortunately, she didn't need to use healing magic for something so minor. She refocused her attention back on Ryuko, and released another soft squeak when she saw the half-naked chick flying straight at her.

Yoshika squeaked and shot straight into the air; Ryuko passed under her and sliced her scissor blade across the tree, sending it crashing sideways to the ground. The Strike Witch flipped around, facing Ryuko, as she fumbled with the ammo magazine and reloaded her rifle. When she turned the muzzle on Ryuko, the dark-haired delinquent had taken an impressive leap into the air, flying straight toward Yoshika –

Meanwhile, Goku buried his heels into the ground as Greymon put all his weight into trying to tackle the Saiyan warrior. Despite his size and strength, Greymon could not make Goku budge. The veteran anime protagonist raised his left foot and buried it into the ground in front of him, then started to push back against the giant dinosaur – and Greymon's massive, clawed feet scraped deep trenches in the grass as he was forced backwards a few inches. Goku then put his right foot forward and pushed again, then his left foot and pushed. The Saiyan warrior repeated this motion until he started to build up momentum and was pushing the giant dinosaur over the hill like it was nothing, despite Greymon's efforts to hold his stance.

A few more minutes of struggling and Greymon suddenly found his back against the lake shore, his tail dipping lightly in the water. In desperate act to turn the tide, Greymon threw up his head, removing his horn from Goku's grip, and lunged at the Saiyan warrior with his mouth full of dagger-length teeth. However, when Greymon had freed himself, Goku immediately lowered himself into a fighting stance and waited until the dinosaur was withinin reaching distance before slamming the underside of his chin with a strong uppercut.

The orange tyrannosaurus was launched into the air like a bottle rocket, shooting so fast into the sky that Yoshika barely spiraled out of the way. Goku immediately flew after him with lightning speed, catching up to the Digimon in half-a-second and stopping at his wide, round stomach. Goku took a deep, calming breath as he narrowed his eyes on his target, then pulled back his fist, his knuckles popping loudly, and thrust forward into Greymon's stomach, burying his hand into the dinosaur's firm, yet spongy skin. The world seemed to pause for a split second….and then sonic boom cracked through the air as Greymon was launched into the lake. The water exploded in every direction, spread a small shower in every direction and soaking the other characters in the brief drizzle.

"Phew, now that that's taken care of," said Goku, clapping his hands clean. "I should probably go help out – "

But just as the Saiyan hero turned around and was ready to join the fight against Ryuko, the lake exploded once more and a geyser of water burst into the air. The martial artist turned back with a surprised look. Inside the flow of water, he saw the shadow of a child-sized creature level with him, when it suddenly expanded into a tall, human-shaped. A voice shouted from inside the funnel:

"AGUMON WARP DIGIVOLVE TO – "

The water tunnel was suddenly blown asunder as a new creature appeared directly in front of Goku, staring down the Saiyan fighter menacingly. The creature was human-shaped and equal to Goku in height, but it's orange skin and clawed feet showed that it was still Agumon. Clad in plates of gold and silver armor, the dino warrior wielded large armored gauntlets with three curved blades on its arms, a divided shield on its back, and donned a metal helmet with three horns similar to Greymon. The new creature struck a mighty pose and roared:

"WARGREYMON!"

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Goku shouted excitedly. "You can transform, too? Do you get any new powers? What's like - ?"

" **Mega Claw**!" Wargreymon yelled, lunged at Goku with his clawed gauntlets.

Goku yelped surprisingly and ducked underneath one of Wargreymon's claws, clipping a few black hairs off the top of his head. But then Wargreymon swung his other claw from below, pointing the blades at Goku's chin, and with no way of dodging in time, the Saiyan warrior crossed his arms over his face and blocked it. Goku was propelled backward through the air, spraying a sizable amount of blood as Wargreymon's claw ripped through his skin, leaving wide gashes in the forearms. Goku grimaced from the sting of his wounds, but he pushed it out of his mind as he straightened himself in the air and flew back at Wargreymon, throwing a wide right hook for the Digimon's head. Unfortunately, Wargreymon raised his gauntlet in between and Goku's fist slammed into it with a metallic ring reverberating over the hilltop. Surprisingly enough, when Goku pulled back his fist, the Digimon's armor was undamaged.

Wargreymon swiftly spun around to face Goku and then, before Goku could react, stabbed his claws at Goku's right shoulder and left leg, barely missing the Saiyan's skin, but tangled his clothes in between the claws. The dinosaur Digimon raised Goku over his head, earned a surprised cry from him, and began to spin in place, shouting " **Great Tornado!** " Wargreymon spun faster and faster until he resembled a miniature orange twister with Goku spinning around above him, whose voice became warbly by how quickly they were moving. Then Wargreymon suddenly turned downward, shot back to the ground like a speeding bullet, and hit the hillside with a thunderous _**crash**_ **!**

A cloud of dirt raised from the crash site, and for a few moments, there was complete silence (excluding the gunshots and exaggerated screaming from Yoshika and Ryuko's fight.) And then, quite suddenly, Wargreymon was thrown out of the smoke where he bounced off the grass on his back before he flipped around and caught himself, standing up straight in a defensive stance. The dino warrior leered into the smoke as it began to dissipate and found himself staring eye-to-eye with Goku, who was panting from a combination of exhaustion and excitement. The clothes that Yoshika had fixed with her magic were torn again, but other than that, Goku seemed unharmed.

"Man, that was close," said Goku, chuckling a bit. "You almost got me there. I gotta hand it to you: you're pretty strong."

"Well, I am the most popular Digimon in the series," said Wargreymon with a touch of arrogance.

"I can see that," said Goku, smiling. "But I'm not done yet."

"And neither am I," Wargreymon grunted.

Goku and Wargreymon jumped toward each other at the same time swinging their fists –

And on the sidelines, Sakura stood defensively in front of the fake Satsuki's cocoon as she watched Yoshika narrowly roll out of the way of Ryuko's scissor blade and as Wargreymon blocked Goku's punches with his gauntlets.

"Ooh, I need to do something," Sakura moaned. "But what can I do without getting in the way."

But while the Cardcaptor's attention was on the battle, she didn't notice the imposter Satsuki shrugging her shoulders and a crack formed in the wood –

Ryuko rolled in the air and landed on her feet, sliding back to stand side by side with Wargreymon, who was shrugging off the most recent blows from his opponent. Yoshika floated closer to the ground so that she hovered next to Goku, reloading her rifle as the Saiyan warrior lowered his stance into a fighter's crouch. The two sides faced off, waiting for the other team to make the first move, when a sharp cry reached their ears and all four heroes spun around.

The fake Satsuki had broken free from her cocoon, knocked Sakura's staff away, and the holding the CardCcaptor with one arm around her throat and her other hand holding her katana over Sakura's small chest.

"Sakura-senpai!" Yoshika yelled fretfully.

"Let her go!" growled Goku, taking a short step closer. But Satsuki reaffirmed her grip on the katana over Sakura's heart to prove that she wasn't messing around.

"Whoa, whoa, sis, ease up, will ya?" said Ryuko in a soothing tone, raising her hands in surrender with a surprised look in her eyes. "I know you're a little pissed about getting caught, but that's going a little far, doncha think? Let's all take a deep breath and calm down like we usually do when we get angry, all right? I could call Soroi and have him whip up your favorite tea, okay?"

But Satsuki only gave her sister a long piercing stare that Ryuko hadn't seen since the beginning of their anime, before they knew they were sisters. For one tense moment, the long-haired swordswoman didn't move, and Ryuko thought she might have convinced her. But when the delinquent took a step closer, Satsuki raised her katana and started to bring it down in a stabbing motion.

" _NO!_ " Ryuko cried.

 _ **BOOM!**_

Sakura couldn't explain what happened; one moment she was being held hostage about to be skewered to death, the next thing she knew, she was being propelled through the air by a powerful shockwave and landed safely in Ryuko's arms. The Cardcaptor blinked in confusion; everyone did. When they all looked over again, they saw Satsuki lying facedown in the ground, half buried in a small crater…with Naruto Uzumaki standing over her unmoving body. The shinobi clad in orange was holding one of his Rasengan pressed against the fake Satsuki's back, allowing the energy to dissipate so that they could see the tear in the back of Satsuki's uniform. That surprised Ryuko more than Naruto's appearance – as far as she knew, Kamui were supposed to be indestructible.

"Hey, Naruto, you're okay!" said Goku cheerfully. "Where've you been?"

"Just about everywhere," said Naruto, standing up straight and smiling brightly. "Good thing is was on my way back looking for Usagi when I saw you guys from across the lake. I rushed over as fast as I could when I saw Sakura-chan was in trouble."

"How's my sister?" asked Ryuko in concern, running up to him as Naruto got off Satsuki. "Is she okay? She's not hurt, is she?"

"That's not your sister," said Naruto seriously. "Look – "

The dark-haired delinquent had just kneeled down to inspect her sister for injury when Satsuki's body suddenly turned pale and became to mold into something else, causing Ryuko to fall back on her butt with a surprised yelp. A few seconds of shape shifting and the heroes found themselves staring at the unconscious form of a pale-skinned man with short green hair, resembling a mixture of both human and plant. Seeing her sister transform into this…thing, Ryuko, out of instinct, kicked the creature in the face, which easily caved in as if it were made of clay.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ryuko yelped, immediately jumping up and wiping her mucked up boot on the grass.

"It's a Zetsu," Naruto explained. "A monster that can clone itself into anyone it touches."

"How did you know it was a fake?" asked Yoshika.

"One of ridiculously OP abilities is to sense when people are good or bad," said Naruto. "I sense a malevolent aura coming off him and knew he was a fake right away."

"That's what we were trying to tell you," Sakura told Ryuko, who set her gently on the ground. "Right before you tried to chop our heads off."

"Uh…heh, he, our bad," said Wargreymon sheepishly.

"So now that we got that misunderstanding cleared up," said Ryuko seriously. "What happened to the real Satsuki?"

"Probably the same thing that happened to Usagi," said Naruto, frowning. "Fubuki and I thought we saw Haruko across the lake on her vespa, but it turned out to be Zeref instead."

"Zeref?" said Ryuko in surprise. "No way! That maniac is in on this, too?"

"I got worried about Usagi, so I came back while Fubuki went after Zeref," said Naruto. "But when I returned to the place I left her, she had disappeared. I fought some crystal shards in the area along with a bunch of footprints and followed them in this direction. I think that fake Satsuki might have captured Usagi and took her away somewhere."

"Then you know what we have to do, right?" said Yoshika. "We have to team up and save our friends!"

"Yeah, but, where do we even start looking?" asked Wargreymon.

Just as the Digimon finished his question, they group heard the chirp of a radio going off and looked around at Naruto, who pulled out an old-fashioned-looking walkie talkie – Naruto's anime was during a time before they invented cellphones. The blonde shinobi rolled the nob back and forth a couple times as the voice on the other side faded in and out. After a few more tries, he finally found a clear signal and the feminine voice came in loud and clear.

" _Fubuki to Naruto, Fubuki to Naruto, do you read me_?" Fubuki chirped on the com.

"Naruto here," Naruto answered. "I'm hear with a couple friends that wanna help. Any luck on your side?"

" _Better than I expected_ ," said Fubuki. " _I think I found Zeref's hide out. It's in a cavern on the other side of the forest. I'm sending you're the coordinates over the radio._ "

"We'll be there as soon as we can – don't go in without us," Naruto ordered firmly before clicking off the radio and stowing it in his pocket. "We know where Zeref's hiding. Maybe that's where Mirai is holding all his captives."

"Then what're we doing standing around here for!" shouted Ryuko, breaking off into a run. "Move your asses, slowpokes!"

"Hey, wait, I'm the one that should be leading!" Naruto yelped surprisingly as everyone chased after her. "Hey, wait for us!"

* * *

And while everything was happening on the continent below, the enigmatic Mirai stood solemnly in the control room of the Black Star, surrounded by a dozen monitors, each one viewing a different area of Animatia. On one side, he was observing the progress of his Forgeries as they invaded the Central Hub and another viewing the ongoing battle between the Abyssal and the Fleet Girls near the continent's shores. But the one that Miria found himself concerned with the most was the main screen in front of him, which displayed a guilty-looking Haruko fiddling with her fingers nervously.

"So let me see if I am understanding this correctly?" said Mirai quietly. "Not only did you get yourself caught in the traitor's trap, but you also lost the statues of Satsuki Kiryuin and Diana Cavendish as well as a third statue? Is that what you are telling me?"

"Um…yes?" said Haruko, chuckling nervously.

"YOU IDIOT!" Mirai roared; Haruko squeaked like a frightened mouse. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT WENT INTO COLLECTING THEM, YOU INCOMPETANT FOOL! I OUGHTA – "

But Mirai's furious rant was interrupted by a bubbly giggling noise coming from behind him. The enigmatic overlord turned and only just noticed that he wasn't alone.

Lying on her stomach with her legs kicking in the air behind her like a carefree teen was a girl with exaggeratedly long blonde hair that was curled into drill-like pigtails and a purple eyepatch over her left eye. She dressed herself in a frilly, pink Lolita-styled dress with matching fingerless gloves and boots and a giant pink bow in her hair. She giggled and smiled sweetly at the Mirai and Haruko…revealing a row of sharp, pointed teeth.

 **NUI HARIME (Kill La Kill)**

"Someone's in trouble," Nui Harime said in a sing-song voice.

"What do you want, Harime," Mirai questioned irritably. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a crisis?"

"Well, then have I got some good news for you?" said Nui Harime joyfully, jumping straight to her feet with a carefree smile. "I know where Zeref is!"

"What? How?" said Mirai, surprised.

Nui Harime giggled, wagging her finger playfully, and said, "I always knew that dummy Haruko-chan would either screw up or do something stupid like run away, so…I planted a tracking device on her dumb ol' scooter."

"Hey, my vespa isn't dumb!" Haruko shouted indignantly.

"SILENCE!" Mirai snapped at her, then turned back to Nui Harime. "And how does that help us, exactly?"

"That mean traitor Zeref stole stupid Haruko-chan's scooter, right?" said Nui Harime, giggling. "That means, means he'll should lead us straight to his little hidey-hole. Just…like…this!"

Before Mirai could stop her, Nui Harime suddenly reached around him and tapped a button on his computer. A map of Animatia instantly popped up on the screen to his left side, and near the eastern most part of the continenet was a big, beeping red dot titled 'Stupid Haruko-Chan.' Naming aside, Mirai examined the dot with extreme scrutiny…. Then he slowly rounded onto Nui Harime, who was smiling from ear-to-ear.

"…hunt him down and bring back my prizes," said Mirai slowly. "And bring that traitor back, as well, alive or dead…preferably dead…."

Nui Harime giggled happily.

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

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 **Until next time, please read and review.**


	13. The Road to Ruin

**SUPER SMASH ANIME  
** **A FUTURE IMPERFECT**

 **Episode Thirteen: The Road to Ruin**

* * *

Finding their way to the Ruins was a long and arduous – how they even were from the Arcturus Forest to the border of the Desert Region in half a day was a mystery itself. But somehow, Natsu and his new traveling companion, Akko, had made it all the way out here. They were standing over the tall cliffside, overlooking the broken buildings and ivy-covered wall that were used whenever an anime they needed them for a bunch of exposition, all of them left behind because the set designers were too lazy to clean up. With his sharp eyes, Natsu could make out a long of the handmade carvings used for different anime lore, including the ones Fairy Tail used for the Galuna Island Arc and the Dragon King Festival. And at the very edge of the ruins was a wide entrance that Natsu knew led to an underground labyrinth of tunnels.

The Fire Dragon Slayer leaned closer to the edge of the cliff, taking several sniffs of the air like a bloodhound.

"Yeah, they're close by," said Natsu. "I can recognize their smell anywhere. That's Wendy and Gajeel. What're those two doing all the way out here, you think?" When he traveling buddy didn't respond, Natsu looked over his shoulder. Akko was sitting on a rock with her head down, her eyes downcast. "Hey, you all right back there? You've been really quiet since we left the forest. You don't got a tummy ache, do ya?"

"No, it's not like that," said Akko somberly. "I was just…thinking about the Shiny Rod."

"You mean that glowy stick?" asked Natsu curiously. "Hey, it's fine. We'll just get you a new one!"

"It's one-of-a-kind! You can't just buy it at the supermarket!" Akko snapped, leaping off the rock angrily. "There's only one Shiny Rod in the whole universe! And I lost it! I lost Shiny Chariot's Shiny Rod! And without it, I'm…," Her anger quickly depleted, returning to a mournful frown. "With the Shiny Rod…I'm useless."

"Aw, c'mon, that's not true," said Natsu optimistically. "You're a witch, right? I'm sure you've got some pretty awesome magic!"

"The only reason I even have the Shiny Rod in the first place is because I suck at magic!" Akko shouted. "I can't do anything! The only trick I know how to do is change into a bunch of dumb animals! And what good is that going to do? I can't even turn in strong animals like Shantae. All I got is a tiny mouse, a dumb turtle, and an elephant with big ears! See? Useless!"

"I don't know; they sound pretty awesome to me," said Natsu, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"You're a shonen character – you're supposed to be stupid," said Akko with a blank stare.

"Hey, now that's just hurtful!" Natsu cried like a wounded puppy.

"I'm nothing without the Shiny Rod," said Akko, crawling back on her rock and burying her face in her knees. "I couldn't even save Diana. Maybe it would've been better if you just left me in the Noire monster. So that I don't get in anyone's way."

Natsu frowned deeply and screw up his brow as he leered down at the Little Witch. He didn't like moody and depressing characters – or anyone from One Piece for that matter – and seeing a character who was supposed to be hopeful and optimistic like Akko be all sad…. Well, it just made him sick to his stomach. The Dragon Slayer marched over, grabbed Akko by the hood of her tunic, and lifted her into the air. The Little Witch yelped as she was unceremoniously thrown over the stronger man's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She kicked her legs and tried pounding his back with her fists, but she may as well be tickling him for all the good it's doing.

"Hey, let me down, what's the big deal?" Akko shouted.

"I'm getting real tired of all your moping around," said Natsu, walking over to the cliff's edge again. "Wendy and Gajeel are somewhere down there and we're gonna find them! And then we're gonna hunt down the bastards that took our friends! Are you with me?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," groaned Akko. "Just put me down alrea – AAAAAHHHH"

She shrieked in fright as the Dragon Slayer leapt over the edge of the cliff without hesitation, plummeting them to the ground one hundred feet below. Akko flailed around more frantically and got lucky when her bootheel smacked Natsu in her eye. She pried herself out of Natsu's arms and was now freefalling alongside him, but they were still descending to the very, _very_ hard ground and a rate only a little faster than a speeding train. Akko grabbed Natsu by his scarf – the pinkette seemed stunning nonchalant about the whole thing – and pulled him close until their noses were almost touch, staring at his with wide, bloodshot eyes.

"WHY WOULD YOU THROW US OFF THE SIDE OF A CLIFF?" she shrieked.

"I figured it was faster than walking," said Natsu nonchalantly.

"WE'RE FALLING OVER A HUNDRED FEET TO OUT DEATHS!" Akko snapped.

"Aw, don't worry about it," said Natsu, waving her off. "They wouldn't let the protagonists die this early in the story. We're gonna be fine."

"WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?" cried Akko.

The Dragon Slayer shrugged his shoulders and rested his hands behind him head, leaning back casually while trying to tune out the screaming witch-in-training next to him.

All the while, Haruko Haruhara was parked from atop another cliff a short distance away, watching the two heroes plummet to the ground through her telescope. She recognized both of them – they were the pair that destroyed the Noir Beast the other after Haruko worked so hard to get it working again. Haruko couldn't believe her luck. She had lost the stuffy princess, the blonde witch, and the bald midget, but now she had a chance to gain some main protagonists instead of secondary characters.

Haruko collapsed the telescope, stuffed it in her riding bag, and whipped out her phone, which projected a holographic screen when she flipped it open. She was instantly greeted by the faceless expression of her boss, Mirai.

"Hey, boss man, guess what?" said Haruko, waving cheerfully. "I found that Dragon Slayer and the Little Witch that escaped from Luna Nova. And I also got this fancy-schmancy new video phone! Pretty cool, right?"

"So you managed to do something right for a change," said Mirai viciously. "That's a surprise in and of its…. Are you sitting on a tricycle right now?"

Haruko looked down. She was, in fact, riding a little tricycle with words "Stardust" written in fancy cursive.

"Uh…yeah, I kinda am," said Haruko, laughing sheepishly.

"Why?" Mirai asked incredulously.

"Well, Zeref stole my vespa, so I needed a new ride," Haruko explained. "The closest place I could find was in Chibi Town where I saw this super awesome yellow bike…until some blonde chibi came along and punched me in the face. So I ended up buy this from a white-haired rich girl."

"…You know what, I don't even care anymore," said Mirai exasperatedly, shaking his head in his hand. "Dragneel and Kagari are immune to the effects of the Retcon Bombs, which makes them the biggest thorns in my side right now. Capture them, bring them to me, and I _might_ be willing to overlook your incompetence for losing all three of your prisoners."

"You got it, boss man!" said Haruko with a cheerful salute as she ended the call. "Stardust, away!"

Haruko started peddling as fast as her long legs would allow her…moving along the cliffside at a snail's pace.

"This could take a while…."

* * *

At the bottom of the cliffs and along the boarder of the Ruins, Natsu and Akko somehow, inexplicably and miraculously, managed to survive the fall with the power of plot armor. Now even questioning how this was remotely possible since they had nothing that should have allowed them to live, the magical duo wandered aimlessly into the territory. Akko climbed up a small set of stairs to one of the painted walls, tilting her head at the mural of strange looking creatures even weirder than the ones she met at Luna Nova, if that's even possible.

"Hey, what's this one from?" asked Akko.

"Uh…I think that's from that Abyss show," said Natsu, briefly glancing at it and scratching his head. "Uh…the one with the four-eyed loli and the robot boy."

"Do you think the Fountain of Polaris is around here," Akko asked, hopping down to rejoin him. "I've only been in this area twice and the second time was very brief. I'm hoping that Arcas might be around. I'd definitely feel a lot better if I had a fifteen foot, twelve-hundred-pound polar bear on my side."

"Nah, I didn't smell anyone when we got here," said Natsu as they climbed over the wreckage of a forgotten machine. "Most shows only use this place for one or two episodes – more if it's part of a story arc. No one really bothers to stick around and explore the place. There's probably a lot of loot around here left behind by the old shows that nobody cleaned up."

"So what are Wendy and Gajeel doing here?" asked Natsu.

"Dunno," said Natsu, folding his hands behind his head. "They got called on a job or something. They were the only ones who weren't around when those jerks blew up our Guild Hall. That means we're the only ones who can get it back. And we _will_ get it back – count on it!"

But Akko seems less than enthusiastic as her pink-haired companion, her thoughts focused solely on how she lost the Shiny Rod.

Neither of them noticed one of the ancient murals sprouting a pair of golden eyes, blinking as they observed Natsu and Akko walk past, and then melted into the wall again.

So far, they managed to make it through the Ruins without running into any Forgeries, Neuroi, or, somehow, Abyssal, which was an oddity themselves. Natsu had fought almost every type of enemy Mirai could throw at them before he caught up with Akko, so the Salamander couldn't help feeling a little uneasy about this territory being unguarded. Natsu hummed to himself, his eyes shooting back and forth out of his peripherals suspiciously, taking a few whiffs of the air every so often. He didn't smell anyone but Akko, Gajeel, and Wendy. Akko didn't take notice to her companion's strangeness; she was staring remorsefully at the ground, kicking a pebble in his path.

She didn't realize that something was creeping up directly behind her, moving underneath the surface of the ground like it was water. The unknown creature moved silently up to Akko's backside and a pair of pale-white arms stretched out of the ground, its fingers stretching out for the witch. However, the arms bumped into a rock that clattered on the ground. The arms quickly retracted before Natsu swerved around on his heel, making Akko jump in surprise by the sudden action.

"Whoa! What's up?" Akko yelped. Natsu didn't answer and walked around her, glaring at the ground where the arm had vanished. "You okay…?"

"I thought I heard something," mumbled Natsu, sniffing the air again. "But I don't smell anything…."

"Maybe you're just a little on edge," Akko suggested. "It's probably because you're worried about your guildmates. I know I'm worried about Lotte and Sucy and Diana…. It's a little hard not to be scared."

"No…I don't think that's it…," Natsu hummed thoughtfully. "I definitely heard something…."

While Natsu scans the ground and Akko just watches him with a confused expression, something slowly crawls out of the wall behind them like a worm breaching the dirt. First its pale arms slither into the open air, then a head of grassy-green hair, and then is pasty-white torso. A White Zetsu had appeared, silently reaching out for Akko while the Little Witch was unaware. His fingers were just inches away from her thin neck – the plant-humanoid let out a raspy breath of excitement –

In the blink of an eye, Natsu spun around on his heels, pulled Akko out of the way by her sleeve, and clenched his flame-coated fist, howling:

" **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!** "

The Dragon Slayer slammed his knuckles hard into the Zetsu's cheek, pulling him out of the wall and flinging him into a broken pillar ten feet away, smashing the ruins to dust. When the smoke cleared, the White Zetsu laid motionlessly on the ground, his eyes blank and mouth dropped in a silent scream. Natsu unclenched his fist, extinguishing the fire, as Akko leaned around him, and stared.

"That's a Zetsu from the Naruto anime!" Akko gasped.

"Ugh, I remember this creep," said Natsu with a grimace. "Naruto talked about them a lot at our monthly eating contest. These freaks have some kind of weird technique that lets them merge with stuff and masks their presence. That's why I couldn't smell them when we got here. And if there's one of them, there's bound to be more – "

"Natsu, behind you!" Akko screamed suddenly.

Natsu snapped his head around, bearing his pointed teeth, as a half dozen White Zetsu's suddenly sprang from the walls and the ground, grabbing the Dragon Slayer by his arms and shoulders. This wouldn't have been a problem for Natsu because of his monstrous strength, but the White Zetsu suddenly began to merge into a single white-fleshed entity that bound Natsu's arms to his sides and planted roots in the ground to keep him in place. Natsu flailed around his bindings, but he couldn't pull himself loose – the Zetsus' flesh was like glue.

Snide laughter echoed around the Ruins. Akko spun around as two dozen White Zetsus began to emerge from the ground like zombies, each one of them leering at her with their creepy yellow eyes and wide, toothy smiles. The Little Witch slowly backed away, whipping out the wand from her belt and holding it up like she was threatening them. The White Zetsu only laughed; they could see her hands shaking. Akko took a few more paces back when she felt something bump into her from behind. She tilted her head back, looking up at the White Zetsu that was smiling wickedly down at her. The pasty-skinned soldier grabbed Akko by the wrists and lifted her off the ground before she had a chance to defend herself; Akko kicked her legs in the air frantically.

"Hey, let me go, you creep!" shouted Akko.

"Get your hands off of her!" roared Natsu.

The White Zetsus only laughed at his threat – that was really starting to grate on Natsu and Akko's nerves. The plant-human holding Akko momentarily released her, only to wrap his arms around her neck and trap her in a dangling chokehold. Akko gasps and chokes as the Zetsu's muscles slowly crushes her windpipe; she claws at his arm with her free hand, but the Zetsu's fast healing removes any progress she makes. It figures, Akko thought, that she would be suffocated twice in as many days. Natsu roared furiously as he attempts to rip the Zetsus off of him with brute forces; he managed to stretch the lump of flesh very far before it snaps back into place like a rubber band, which caused the Dragon Slayer to snarl frustratedly.

Akko was drawing quicker breaths; she was starting to feel a little light headed…. She glanced over at Natsu out of the corner of her eyes, wondering why he hasn't burned the Zetsus to ash yet. Then she remembered that the Zetsu have the power to drain people's energy when they caught them in their flytrap-thing. But Akko could still feel the magic flowing through her body. If she could just raise her wand…. Aim for the Zetsu…. Don't black out….

" _ **Augue…Azelle…**_ " Akko choked.

If she wasn't being choked to death, Akko would have been relieved that her spell did blow up in her face like it usually did. The incantation did exactly what it was supposed to do – create a huge fireball that flew from the tip of her wand and exploded against the pound of flesh that was Zetsu. The plant monsters shrieked as the flames licked against their bodies, instinctively edging away from the heat. But as they moved away from the fire, a strong hand grappled the white flesh with an iron grip. One of the Zetsu's poked their eyes up and began sweating profusely as they looked up at Natsu, not realizing that they had freed his left arm, as the Salamander licked up the remains of Akko's fireball with a wide, toothy grin.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly," he said in a menacing tone.

The Salamander clenched his fist deeper into the Zetsu and, with an animalistic howl, created raging storm of flames that engulfed the plant humans from the inside. The Zetsu flesh exploded in every direction as stream of flames burst forth, shattering nearby walls and blackening the ground. The other Zetsu shuddered and backed away, throwing up their hands protectively, including the Zetsu holding Akko. The Little Witch dropped to her feet at a crouch and started to run, but the White Zetsu spotted her immediately and tried to make a grab for her hood. But at the last second, Akko waved her wand around and chanted:

" _ **Metamorphie Faciesse**_!"

A puff of smoke exploded where Akko stood as the Zetsu threw himself at her, only to trip on his own feet and flop face down on the ground. The Zetsu lifted his head, shook the sand out of his face, and looked around with a stupefied expression. He couldn't see Akko anywhere…. At least…not in human form.

The Zetsu heard the sound of ' _chu, chu_ ' and looked forward, blinking and open-mouthed. A little orange mouse with a familiar bob of brunette was standing on its hindlegs and…flashing him a peace sign?

"Transformation complete!" said Akko-mouse proudly. "Not so tough now, are ya?"

Zetsu frowned – it didn't like being insulted by a little girl who had shrunk to 1/20th his size.

The plant human raised his hand overhead, threatening to squash the tiny mouse, but Akko smirked confidently with his hands on her hips and stayed in place. Zetsu started to bring the hand down on Akko…but not before Natsu stepped in and brought his flame-covered fist down on the monster's head, flattening it into paste. Akko made a squeaky noise that was equivalent to a mouse's laughter, then began a short trek up Natsu's pants, over his belt, climbed his coat, and perched herself on the Dragon Slayer's shoulder using his scarf as a handhold. The Salamander stomped one step forward, cracking the ground and making the remaining Zetsu shudder fearfully.

"You jerks think you can pick on my friend?" growled Natsu, punching his palm with his flame-covered fist. "Well, looks like you forgot the number one rule about anime…."

"Nothing is stronger than the power of friendship!" squeaked Akko-mouse.

Most of the Zetsu looked terrified – they were confident when they had the element of surprise, but there was no possible way they could take on the Dragon Slayer now that he was aware. Many tried to escape by sinking into the ground, but Natsu rocketed across the grounds, pounding their faces with his fire-dusted knuckles, sending them flying deeper into the Ruins where they either laid dead or unconscious. Some of them even just outright started running, but Natsu only needed to breath a single fireball that he manipulated mentally to scorch them into ash. The few that were brave enough to stick around tried to jump the Salamander – Natsu knocked them all out with a nonchalant backhand or a simple kick with an expression that looked he was just bored.

Akko the Mouse blinked with a soft "chu" as she looked around from her spot of Natsu's shoulder. In what seemed like no time at all, every single Zetsu was sprawled along the ground, their eyes rolled into the back of their heads, many of them carrying terrified expressions. Natsu let out a bored sigh as he folded his hands behind his head.

"Come on, is that it?" Natsu moaned. "I thought these guys were supposed to be tough. Weren't they part of some big bad army or something? They're super weak!"

"You're just too powerful," said Akko-mouse. "Everyone knows a single Fairy Tail character could wipe out a whole army of Naruto characters. Even Lucy."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Natsu mumbled, still looking disappointed. He looked around briefly and saw something off to the side. "Hey, look, there's the entrance to the temple that conveniently just happened to pop right after we finished kicking those guys asses. I can smell Wendy and Gajeel inside."

"Ah, the power of terrible plot development," squeaked Akko-mouse, glancing at the author. "You know, your story is getting worse every chapter."

Hey, I'm trying my best here!

"Hey, stop giving the author a hard time," said Natsu kindly. "Come on, let's hurry up and find Wendy and Gajeel. Then we can start looking for your friends, too."

"W…Wait…a second! I…oh god, I'm so tired…."

The protagonist duo slowly turned to their left, tilting their heads dumbfounded, at the tall and sharply woman peddling up to them on a very, _very_ small tricycle. Haruko was panting hard, sweat dripping down her brow profusely, pushing the peddles with all the strength of her legs from the sandy path. Natsu and Akko stood by and watch – Akko pulled out a pocket watch from somewhere and learned that they had been doing this for four minutes straight. But Haruko finally stopped in the middle of their path and jumped off Stardust, tossing it haphazardly on its side. She shakily stood up and tried to look imposing, but it was really difficult when she looked so close to falling over.

"Hold it…. Hold it right…. I'll just…," Haruko wheeze before finally leaning over, propping herself up with her leg. "Oh, Jesus…. Oh, I think I'm gonna throw up…."

"You want some water?" Akko-mouse offered politely.

"Yes…yes, please…," said Haruko hoarsely.

Akko-mouse leaned over Natsu's shoulder and stood up again pulled a bottle of water completely out of thin air. The little mouse tossed the water bottle, which Haruko snatched up with a grateful thanks. She wasted no time chugging down the whole thing in record time, heaving a refreshed sigh when she was finished.

"Now that hits the spot," said Haruko, reinvigorated, tossing the water bottle over her shoulder. "Right, now, what was I saying.? Oh yeah – " She struck a powerful pose, one fist on her hip and the other pointing at the protagonists in a dramatic fashion. "Hold it right there 'heroes'. You're not going anywhere except to my boss's trophy shelf…or whatever the hell he's doing with you guys?"

"And who're you supposed to be?" asked Natsu, crouching into a ready stance with his fists clenched.

"The name's Haruko Haruhara, the most badass woman in anime," said Haruko with a prideful grin. "And I'm taking ya both to Mirai so he can get off my ass!"

"So you're working for the bastard that blew up our guild, huh?" Natsu sneered; his fists ignited in raging flames. "Well, there's no way I'm letting you take any more of my friends!"

"Yeah, yeah, power of friendship and all that crap," said Haruko uncaringly, picking her ear with her pinkie of all things. "Look, I've been having a shitty few days. The boss man is really heckling me ever since I lost that half-naked sword chic and that blonde witch from Luna Nova – "

"Wait, what?" Akko-mouse cut her off sharply. "Blonde chic from – are you talking about Diana?"

"If that's her name," said Haruko indifferently, pulling out her finger and flicking off the earwax. "I just found her after that giant dragon thing threw her off in the forest. She didn't put up much of a fight after I punched her lights out. Had her sealed up in crystal and everything."

"You…," Akko-mouse growled, her tiny fists shaking furiously. "Where is she? What'd you do to her?"

"You want me to tell ya?" asked Haruko, grinning sadistically. "Then why doncha make me?"

Haruko was baiting her, Akko knew this, but she still jumped at the villain despite being the diminutive size of a mouse. Haruko reached over her shoulder and whipped out her guitar with an excited laugh as she took a hefty swing at the rodent. As the instrument came around, Akko's reflexively touched the face of them guitar and leaped up at Haruko, much to the rider's surprise. The guitar villain shouted and sputtered as Akko-mouse latched on to her face, pulling her eyelids shut with her tiny hands and scratching her cheeks with her feet – and the tail brushing her nose wasn't comfortable either. Haruko stumbled back a few paces before she finally had the sense to reach up, grab the mouse by her tail, and rip her off; Akko was still pulling on Haruko's eyes, which snapped back at her eyes when Akko finally let go.

Haruko dangled Akko-mouse in front of her face with a look that said she wasn't too happy with her; Akko squeaked nervously and batted her eyes trying to look adorable…. It wasn't.

Before Haruko could decide what to do with her, Haruko looked up when an animalistic roar pounded her eardrums and saw Natsu flying at her with his flaming fists. The guitar villain let out a surprised yelp and bounced backwards, let Natsu slam into the ground where she once stood, sending sand and rock flying everywhere, all while holding on to Akko-mouse's tail. Natsu didn't waste a second chasing after her, blasting his flames behind him like rocket boosters. Natsu shouted his attack (" **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!** ") while Haruko swung her guitar at the same time to meet him in the middle. A thunderous shockwave blasted through the Ruins when their attacks made contact, along with the screech of the guitar strings that forced Akko-mouse to cover her enlarged ears. The two opposing sides held their own until they forced each other back, making them stumble apart several feet.

This time, it was Haruko's turn to go on the offensive.

She leapt forward and swung her instrument down from above, but Natsu skipped backwards to didge. The Salamander attempted to counter with a flaming fist, but Haruka pulled up her guitar to slap it away, flipped the neck around in her hand, and tried for another swing at his head. Natsu did a quick backflip, kicking the guitar overhead, then charged headfirst at Haruko when his feet touched the ground. However, Haruko pulled up her right foot and stomped her feel into the Dragon Slayer's face, pushing him back and leaving a nice imprint of her boot between his eyes. Natsu shook the dizziness from his eyes and wiped the bootprint off his face, sneering at the cocky villain that was grinning from ear-to-ear. Natsu took a deep breath, cupping his hands over his mouth, and started to call out:

" **Fire Dragon –** "

"Uh-uh-uh, not so fast," said Haruko wickedly. She dangled Akko-mouse into view, who let out a terrified squeak. "Wouldn't wanna turn your little pal here into a barbeque, now would ya?"

Natsu immediately dropped his hands to his sides, the flames around his lips dissipating, staring wide-eyed at the squirming little rodent in Haruko's hands. That's right – he had forgotten that she was holding Akko hostage. And unlike his friends in the guild, she couldn't take the full brunt of a breath attack, or any attack he had to dish out. And Haruko knew this based on the way she wouldn't stop grinning.

Now that his guard was dropped, Haruko hoisted her guitar into a high arc and brought it down on the Dragon's Slayer's head with a booming shriek of the chords. The ground caved into a small crater as all sand within a ten-foot radius was blasted away, leaving a clear patch of rocky terrain. Though his head was slightly steaming when Haruko pulled her guitar away, Natsu raised himself by his elbows and shook it off, glaring defiantly up at the villain. Haruko started to raise her instrument again and Natsu ignited his palm in retaliation, but Haruko held up Akko-mouse again and the fire instantly died. The guitar screeched through the air again as Haruko brought it down, but Natsu blocked the blow with his forearm, baring his pointed in outrage at the maniac, but didn't dare to fight back as long as she was holding Akko by the tail.

"What's the matter, huh?" Haruko taunted, swinging her guitar again and again, making the crater larger with each blow. "What happened to that power of friendship bullshit you were talkin' 'bout, huh? Where's all that nakama crap from your shitty show, huh?"

"You…bastard…," Natsu growled, wincing while defending himself from her swings.

"Hahaha! This is way too easy!" Haruko cackled. "I'll never get why Zeref had such a hard time dealing with your crap!"

As she dangled between Haruko's thumb and forefinger watching her friend get pummeled, Akko-mouse squeaked angrily as she shook her fists.

"Nobody picks on my friends and gets away with it!" Akko-mouse chirped, whipping out her miniature wand and twirling it around. " _ **Metamorphie Faciesse**_!"

Natsu's arms were starting to turn purplish-0blue from the bruise that were starting to swell. Haruko smirked – one more powerful swing outta be enough to do the trick.

She began to pull back her guitar, building up for an extra strong swing, when she felt a sudden weight in her left arm, pulling her down to the ground with a surprised yelp. Haruko raised her head, spitting out the dirt that had gotten into her mouth, becoming increasingly aware that something very heavy was sitting on her arm and was starting to hurt. And when she looked up, Haruko's eyes went small when she found herself faced against a young, orange-skinned elephant with very big ear and a _very_ pissed off look on its face. The next thing she knew, the elephant hopped off of Haruko's arm, only to constrict her limb with its powerful trunk.

"Uh-oh," Haruko muttered meekly.

"AKKO SMASH!" shouted Akko-elephant.

Akko lifted the villain overhead and slammed her on her back against the ground – hard. She pulled at her arm again and Haruko faceplanted back into the dirt. Akko-elephant repeated these motions again and again, never giving Haruko a chance to catch her bearings, sometimes twirling her around in the air for good measure before throwing her back down. It was very reminiscent to a certain scene in a superhero movie. Then with one last twirl, Akko body slammed Haruko into the ground with enough force to make an outline in the rock.

Haruko somehow retained consciousness, but her jaw had fallen open in a silent scream, her eyes practically popping out of her skull. Every inch of her body hurt – even breathing caused some slight irritation in her lungs. Her bulging eyes rolled up at Akko-elephant, who huffed in a superior manner.

"Puny bad guy," said Akko-elephant.

Haruko wisely kept silent, her eyes never leaving Akko's as the elephant leered down at her. Meanwhile, the villain's hand was slowly stretching sideways, inching closer to her guitar, likely planning for a counterattack. But just as her fingertips touched the fingerboard, someone's foot came down and smashed the instrument into splinters. Haruko let out a frightened squeak as her eyes rolled over to Natsu, who was cracking his knuckles in a very intimidating fashion.

"Hey, that was vintage – yow!" Haruko yelped as Natsu grabbed her by the collar, forcing her to her feet.

"All right, I've had just about enough of you," growled Natsu, dragging Haruko over and slamming her back against a pillar. "We've got some questions and you better answer them."

"That's right," said Akko, popping back into human form and pointing her wand threateningly. "So start talking."

"Hey, hey, hey, can't we talk about this like – " Natsu slammed her into the wall again; her head was throbbing. "Okay, maybe not."

"Where's Diana?" Akko demanded immediately.

"I don't know," said Haruko. Natsu slammed her again. "Okay, that really starting to hurt, pal!"

"Talk!" Akko all but shouted. "Where did you take her?"

"I swear to you, I don't know," said Haruko insistently. "Look, I'll admit that I did capture her at first and I was planning to take her back to my boss, Mirai. You know, the creepy glowing floaty guy with no face that wants to erase the world? I had her and that half-naked sword chick from that show about evil clothes – "

"Ryuko-chan?" asked Akko curiously.

"No, the taller one with bigger boobs," said Haruko. "Anyway, I was on my way to make my delivery when I saw another character frozen in crystal on the side of the road. Now, I wasn't going to miss the chance to earn a little brownie points with the boss man. So I hopped off my vespa and went to snag it when I suddenly froze up. And I mean, I literally froze up; couldn't move – period. Turns out it was all a trap set up by that two-timing bastard, Zeref."

"You saw Zeref?" Natsu gasped.

"Isn't he the bad guy from your show," Akko asked Natsu.

"Zeref used to work with us before he defected," said Haruko. "The jerk took all the trophies I snagged and my vespa! I swear, I have no idea where he went!"

Natsu and Akko gave her accusatory stares, gauging whether or not she was telling the truth. After a while, Natsu slowly lowered Haruko back to her feet and let go of her collar. The guitar villain held her hand up in surrender, cautiously inching back a few paces when they didn't attack her right away. After a moment of no reactions, Haruko let out an awkward laugh.

"Soooo…. Does this mean we're goo – "

Then completely out of nowhere, Akko swung her fist around and clocked Haruko across the face. The guitar villain spun around once, her stance becoming wobblily, her eyes rolling in their sockets, as a bell sounded somewhere in the background.

"Okay…," said Haruko dizzily, "…now we're good…."

Then she fell face first on the ground, unconscious.

"Nice right hook," Natsu complimented, impressed.

"Just needed a little motivation," said Akko, though her knuckles were really throbbing. "So…what're we supposed to do now. If Diana is with Zeref, then…."

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Natsu reassuringly. "I know Zeref. He might be a bad guy on the show, but he isn't evil like the rest of them. I actually feel better knowing your friends are with him instead of Mirai's lackeys." Akko didn't seem as certain as him, but Natsu smiled and shook her shoulder. "Trust me, she's gonna be all right. Let's hurry up and find Gajeel and Wendy and then we can find your friend. Three Dragon Slayers are better than one, I always say."

Akko managed a weak smile and nodded to this agreement. Natsu grinned, patting her on the shoulder one last time, and then started heading to the entrance of the temple, leaving Haruko facedown in the dirt. Akko looked down at her right hand, staring at the red thread attached to her pinky that only she could see. The red thread that led to Diana. If this magic was still active, then that must have meant Diana was still alive. Akko felt reassured by this and followed her Dragon Slayer friend inside the temple.

* * *

 **Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.**

 **Until next time, please read and review.**


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